Blue Sky Falling, Return of the Dragons series, Book 2
by Marty the Martian
Summary: In this sequel to Red Sky Rising, Blue finds himself in sidetracked into a risky situation, while his friends in Sumatra prepare to deal with the imminent threat posed by a determined Neville Sage and his band of raiders. Hope eventually comes to Blue in the form of a small lizard... with wings.
1. Chapter 1

Blue Sky Falling

'Return of the Dragons' Series

Book 2

Act 1

Chapter 1

Late in the 21st century.

Running north from Iceland to Svalbard, a fault line separates the North American Tectonic Plate and the Eurasian Plate. For millions of years these two massive pieces of the Earth's crust have been pushing against each other with immeasurable forces, causing regular quakes, and pushing up some sections of sea floor to form rocky outcrops both above and below the surface.

On the other side of the world on one cold and overcast day, a volcanic eruption on the seabed off the coast of Korea, relieved the pressure that had built up on the Eurasia Plate, allowing it to separate slightly 374 kilometres northeast of Iceland. This separation in turn, caused one of the rocky outcrops on the fault line, to split open and reveal a deep dark cavern below.

A few hours after the earthquake had subsided, a small reptilian creature poked its yellowish green head up out of the darkness and into the light of day. Its body was of similar size to the average dog but its legs splayed out from its sides like those of a monitor lizard but unlike a monitor, the creatures head was round and bulbous, much like its eyes. Two scrawny twisted horns adorned its head and flimsy triangular dorsal plates ran down the length of its back and to the end of its long swishing tail.

Perhaps the oddest things about the small creature were two green, bat like wings just below its shoulders. The beast sniffed the air, stretched out its wings, crouched down and leapt into the air, heading off in a southerly direction.

'

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Trying to get a good night's sleep was impossible for Blue Dias, and that fact was reflected in odd dreams. He dreamt he was back onboard the MTV Star Cruiser; he was on his way to his cabin but when he arrived, his bed had been taken over by his father Luis who snored loudly.

"Get out of my bed Dad; it's my turn to sleep!"

But instead of leaving, his father just poked Blue in his right side with a sharp stick and went back to sleep. As soon as Blue walked out the door, he found himself in his other cabin, this time on the tanker ship currently beached in West Sumatra. There he found his mother April and youngest sister Saffron sleeping in his bunk. When he tried to remove them, his sister also poked him with a very sharp stick, so he left again.

The next time, Blue entered his old bedroom deep underground in the Railgun complex; but his bed contained his other sister Abigail and his friend Calla, both also snoring merrily away.

"Come on you two; it's my turn to rest."

As he tried to awaken them, Calla suddenly spun around with a sharp knife in her hand and stabbed Blue deep in his right side.

Taking a deep gasp of air, Blue awoke with a start, soon realising where he really was. He lay on the side of an old road; he was cold, he was wet, and there was a rock under his right side.

"Oww" Blue stated as he struggled to his feet.

He shivered as he rubbed his head, wondering just how long he had been unconscious, when he suddenly realised he could not remember which direction he had been walking. In the dark both directions looked the same and he certainly did not want to go back the way he had come.

It had been two days now but he still felt certain he would soon find the Bull Ant eventually. This was because Maximilian DeGroot was obsessed with the fact that Blue and his sister were direct descendants of Hiccup and Astrid; Dragon Riders of Berk. After fifteen minutes of stumbling along the road, the clouds parted revealing a Half Moon hanging low in the sky.

"Dammit!" Blue cursed realising he was going the wrong way.

He turned back while continuing to curse, for he was still angry with himself for not being more cautious. Even in towns and settlements along the Canadian/US border, Blue and his companions had been warned about the Mountain Compound and the survivalist settlement to be found there. Many of the people he had met had talked to Blue about 'The Place in the North.' He was told only certain kinds of people could safely go and trade there, while still being sure they would be permitted to leave again. It was not a secretive place, so the Bull Ant crew were able to learn all about its reputation. And so before they passed by the area of its location, they all agreed to give the place a wide berth; unfortunately though, they did not go wide enough.

Even now as he stumbled, half freezing down the lonely road and after all the time that had passed, Blue could still not stop himself from re-living what had happened in the last month, when the people from the mountain survivalist's compound had found the Bull Ant. It was Blues fault and he knew it. If only he hadn't been so curious and had driven past further to the south. If only he hadn't taken the opportunity to find out more by flying their camera drone in the area, alerting the people who would become their captors, to the presence of strangers.

If only he'd been more careful.

It had happened at night, an hour after sunset when everyone on the Bull Ant was tired; a group of at least a dozen armed people surrounded the camp site and pounced. Calla, Blue, Abigail and DeGroot were all held at gunpoint while the Bull Ant was searched. Blue assumed their transport would be stripped of anything useful but in the end, the raiders wanted to travel light and only took a few dry food survival packs. It was what they did next that really surprised Blue.

First they brought out the camera drone and smashed it into tiny pieces, and then they turned to DeGroot.

"Consider yourself lucky we're leaving your transport and equipment un-touched; now take full advantage of this opportunity, leave this area and never come back" the group's leader ordered. "If I ever see you again, we'll destroy everything.

"Oh yes sir, understood sir, thank you sir, we will leave at once sir" DeGroot was truly a grand master of grovelling.

The man took a step closer and leaned into DeGroot's face.

"Not them... just... you."

And with that, the raiders disappeared into the night with Blue and the two girls leaving Maximilian DeGroot alone.

'

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At the same time, deep underground on the other side of the planet, the staff and residents of the Railgun Complex in West Sumatra were, as the saying goes, working their tails off. After sixteen long years, they finally had the supplies and equipment they needed to commence building of the first colony in space, as a supplement to the colony on the planet Mars.

Fifty five years ago, history tells of two massive asteroids colliding in the Asteroid Belt. One of these asteroids was nothing more than a huge nameless lump of rock, dust and ice floating in space and minding its own business, until the orbit of another asteroid named Sholf-4 decided to cross the others path as they both made their way around the sun.

Being a massive M-type or metal asteroid some one hundred and fifty kilometres across, Sholf-4 managed to totally obliterate the rocky asteroid (posthumously named Victim by an astronomer with a droll sense of humour), even though the later body was over three times as large. The collision also altered the orbit of Sholf-4, sending it elliptically around the Sun, regularly crossing the orbital path of the Earth.

With a cloud of rock and debris over two thousand seven hundred kilometres long trailing along behind it, Sholf-4 brought nothing but calamity and destruction to the Earth. This blue planet, home to all complex life in the solar system, would use its greater gravitational pull to steal parts of the Sholf-4 cloud every time the two bodies came into close proximity. These rocks would in turn orbit the Earth until they were inevitably drawn in the planet itself.

Most would just burn out in the upper atmosphere, some exploded mid air, sending a destructive shockwave out over an area the size of a small European country, but a few made it all the way down. Depending on where they landed, hundreds, thousands or even millions of people could be killed. Life had been that way for humanity for over half a century now.

The evacuation of the Earth had only partially succeeded with just a little more than two thousand people being sent to colonise Mars, but now the work to save as many as possible had begun anew with the sending of people and supplies to begin a new home in the same place the trouble started; the Asteroid Belt.

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'

Neville Sage always looked imposing and threatening, but standing on the bridge of his attack fleets flagship, took him up to a whole new level of menace. The one time Naval Commander and head of Mars security now exiled to Earth, had given himself the title of General so there could be no mistake as to who was now in charge. Sage had recently assassinated his former boss Prime Governor Redding; the old man had gone mad for revenge after hearing about the recent death of his grandson, turning him from a power hungry despot, into a dangerous liability for all those who had supported him in the past.

Redding had began to rant about de-populating the Earth and becoming the new Emperor of both Earth and Mars before ordering the execution of all his former partners in crime, so Sage decided to take the initiative and take over Redding's operation by killing him instead.

Now Sage stood ready to set sail west from San Diego to Sumatra with a small fleet of ships. When he arrived, he intended to take over the Railgun Complex and use the people there as hostages to force Blue's father Luis Dias to hand over the Mars Transfer Vehicle 'Star Cruiser', thus enabling he and his militia to travel back to Mars Base One and take over control. Sage would not be satisfied until he had firstly succeeded in escaping from the doomed Earth, and secondly made the people who exiled him suffer for what they'd done.

"Excuse me Sir" one of Sage's minions interrupted his musings.

"What is it Rake?"

"We've just brought Adisa and Branson on board" Carson Rake informed his boss.

"Good; give the Professor the smallest cabin you can find, and lock up Branson in the brig" Sage ordered.

"Adisa asked to see you; he wants to know what you're going to do with Henry Dias."

"The only thing I want you to tell Adisa, is that I don't want to see him until I call for him" Sage insisted.

Upon leaving the bridge, Rake went back down to the main deck where four of his men held the two prisoners.

"Sorry Professor but he doesn't want to see you" Rake said.

"I'm not surprised" Professor Adisa grinned "Sage hates it when I remind him of how he failed to shoot down Blue and Calla's space craft."

"Maybe you shouldn't poke the bear sir" Reed Branson offered.

"Perhaps not, but I don't want him feeling comfortable" Linton Adisa noted.

"That kind of talk could get you killed" Rake said as he dragged the Professor away.

"Not as long as he needs me as a hostage" the old man replied.

Reed Branson's ship the One and All, had brought Professor Linton Adisa and Henry Dias to the south western United States so they could look for answers to questions they had held for many years about the Mars Project. Instead they soon became prisoners of Prime Governor Redding and then upon his death, prisoners of General Neville Sage, who intended to use Branson and Adisa as bargaining leverage when they reached Sumatra.

So now with both prisoners locked away, Sage gave the order for the small fleet of ships to cast off and moved slowly out of San Diego harbour.

'

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'

**Hello everyone :D**

**I happy to be back with the continuing story of Blue Dias and his friends. Some of you may remember, after my last Snoggletog story I said I would not publish any future stories until they were finished first. This was because of my (mild) heart attack at the end of 2017 but the good news is, I am much better now and although no one knows the future, I feel it is now safe for me to start this new story without the risk of dropping dead in the middle of it.**

**I'm doing a lot more exercise type stuff away from the computer but I still do a bit of writing on most days so I expect to put out at least two chapters per month, maybe three. Hope you all remember how Red Sky Rising ended but if not, I suppose you could always check out the last few chapters as a reminder.**

**Lastly (for now) I want to give a shout out to my regular reviewers from the last book Stripesicles222, Vin, Draco38 ad Appleye2. To you and all those following the last story, sorry this on took so long to appear, and I do hope this one entertains.**

**Thanks, Marty.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A cold moonless night was not the perfect time to be hurried along a dirt road. Even though Blue, Calla and Abigail all tried to let their eyes adjust to the darkness, their captors regularly shone torch lights into the young people's eyes just to keep them disoriented.

"Where are you taking us?" Calla asked.

"You'll find out soon enough" came the terse reply.

"More to the point, why are you taking us?" Blue demanded to know.

"Ha..." laughed another voice "You'll soon find that out too."

"But try not to worry too much" a third and calming voice told them "You won't be hurt and your worries are over."

"I wasn't worried before you came" Abigail declared "but I am now!"

"Don't be please" the calming voice said "When we get home, all will be explained."

The three captives spent over two hours being pushed along dirt road, into a forest and through a deep mountain pass before the group finally did reach home. It looked imposing at first with a high stone wall and strong gates, but on the inside there was a real village feel to the place. The soft street lighting and recent snow even made the town look somewhat festive even though it was still over two months till Christmas.

Blue heard a grinding sound coming from behind and looked back to see a pair of gates being closed, locking them in.

"Don't worry, it's just to keep animals out at night; my name's Eric."

At last Blue could put a name to the calming voice but he did not feel ready to make friends with one of their kidnappers, no matter how nice he seemed.

"Well Eric, perhaps you'd like to explain what is going on here!" Calla interrupted.

"Don't worry..." Eric started.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Calla shrugged.

"...I'll take you to see Gran; she'll clue you in to this place."

Some of the people who had kidnapped the younger members of the Bull Ant's crew had already gone their separate ways, but a few still stood behind, with weapons poised in their hands. Eric led the way with the menacing ones close behind; making it clear that walking in the right direction was the correct way to stay in good health.

As they walked, more people appeared from inside the buildings and they seemed to be delighted to see the new arrivals. Eventually one of them, a woman in her forties, approached them with a broad smile on her face.

"Oh good, you found some. Did you have any trouble?" she asked Eric.

"No there was only one adult with them, and he was no trouble at all."

Upon hearing this news, the smile left the woman's face and she became very stern with Eric and his companions.

"Was he a relative?" she asked.

"Err... we didn't ask" Eric admitted.

The woman turned to Abigail and asked again.

"Was the man with you a relative of yours my dear?"

"No!" Abigail replied bluntly and promptly received an elbow in the ribs from Calla.

"Don't tell them anything" she whispered.

"Oh good; Gran does hate to split up families" the woman said.

Three other young men soon gathered to look over the newcomers, making them all feel like they were on display.

"They're a bit young" one of them said bluntly.

"Are you in a hurry?" the woman asked rhetorically "Give it time; they'll grow up."

Blue was pushed in the back and the group continued on.

"HEY, no need for that Stan" the woman scowled at the man who had pushed Blue.

She followed along with the group until they reached a cliff face with what appeared to be an old railway tunnel running into it. The tunnel was large enough for a normal standard gauge train, but the tracks coming out were quite small and hugged the left side of the tunnel wall.

"In you go" one of the armed men prodded Blue with his rifle when the young man stopped at the entrance.

"STANLEY! WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU?" the woman continued to defend the captives.

The right wall of the tunnel had a number of pipes running along it; the orange one at the top one obviously carried electrical wiring, for it was also the only source of lighting, with a glowing bulb attached at regular intervals. After they had walked a few hundred meters, two more tunnels led off on each side, with even more appearing the further they went. These side tunnels were nowhere near as large as the main tunnel, and were clearly not part of the original railway. As they approached the sixth side tunnel, the echoing sound of children's laughter could be heard; a young girl of about five years old ran around the corner squealing with delight as she was chased by a small friend.

The young child ran headlong into Calla and would have been knocked to the ground if the young lady had not caught the girl by the shoulders.

"Hello" Calla smiled "You should be more careful."

To the newcomer's surprise, the little girl gave a deafening scream before she and her friend ran back down the tunnel the way they had come.

"Sorry about that" Eric said "We teach them to be very wary of strangers."

"Good idea; there are kidnappers about" Calla mentioned sarcastically "Oh wait... that would be you."

"It's not as bad as you think" Eric smiled reassuringly.

"Oh no, being taken by armed men in the middle of the night isn't always a bad thing" Blue noted in the same sarcastic tone "Sometimes it's a real hoot and a half."

A little further on and the group was led into one of the side tunnels. It was only slightly smaller than the main tunnel and had doors on each side, every twenty meters. Eric knocked on the fifth door, which was soon opened by a thin middle aged woman with short brown hair.

"We found them Gran; brought these three back" Eric reported.

The tall woman scowled and looked over Blue and the girls before she spoke.

"They're a bit young; there were adults with them?"

"Just one unsuitable male, no relation" Eric noted.

"And you didn't even ask about that until well after you'd taken us" Calla noted.

This seemed to annoy the woman called Gran as she glared at the men around her.

"You know how I feel about separating families" she barked at them.

"Sorry Gran but we were a bit nervous at the time" one of the armed men said "You should have seen the size of their vehicle; it was huge and we were worried there may have been a small army on board. In the end it turned out to be just these three and the old guy."

"Did you take care of the drone?" Gran checked.

"It'll never fly again" Eric nodded.

On Gran's order Abigail, Calla and Blue were taken inside her underground home. Eric and the other woman they had met outside entered as well, while two armed men were ordered to stand guard outside the door. The inside was furnished just like an ordinary house, except that the walls and ceiling were all exposed rock.

"Our drone didn't do you any harm, and neither did we; so why I you smash it and how long are you planning to keep us prisoner?" Blue asked bluntly.

"I don't have to explain my reasons to you... but you are not prisoners; this is your new home" Gran stated.

"I'd prefer to go back to my old home" Calla shrugged.

"This huge vehicle I was just told about doesn't sound like much of a home to me" Gran noted.

"It was taking us home" Calla sneered "Back to our families, and you don't like separating families, do you?"

"It looks to me like you separated yourselves from your families."

"Is that how you justify yourself?" Blue sneered.

Gran stared back at Blue with daggers in her eyes.

"I don't need to justify myself to you" she stated "This is your new home now; it's a good home and a safe home."

"It's a cold dank home" Abigail mumbled but Gran just ignored her and changed the subject.

"So... are you all related?" she asked.

All three remained silent at first before Blue decided to try and talk his way out of the situation.

"This girl is my sister Abigail, and we had recently left my parents with the intent of returning Calla to her family. So if you keep us here..."

"Don't try and change my mind boy" Gran hissed "I only asked for the purpose of future pairing."

This statement made all three fall silent once more.

"W-what do you mean by... paring?" Abigail eventually dared to ask.

"What do you think I mean? Coupling... husband and wife stuff; staring new families."

"ARE YOU NUTS? ABBY AND I ARE ONLY FOURTEEN!" Calla shouted.

"Don't blow a gasket young lady; considering the circumstance of your age, you won't have to choose a partner for another five years."

Calla suddenly remembered the men outside who had commented about her age, and she suddenly felt very sick.

"Look I understand this is a lot of information for you to take in, but you have to face the facts that you are growing up, and we need to think about what will happen in the future. We have to make plans sometime" Gran said as she sat in her favourite easy chair.

"We did have plans, until you interrupted them" Blue fumed.

"Listen kid, the only reason everyone calls me Gran is because I hate being called Boss or Chief or any of that kind of crap. But in reality I am a highly qualified medical doctor and biological scientist. And before I started this place, I worked on the Mars Project for my entire adult life. Everyone seems to have forgotten that the Earth is a dangerous place to be and it's only people like me, creating places like this, that will guarantee the long term survival of humanity on this planet."

"If you worked on the Mars Project then you know this planet is doomed, whether it be in one year or a hundred years" Blue said accusingly.

"So we were told but from what I've seen, it is impossible that a Planet Killer will ever hit the Earth. The most we have to contend with are meteorites that can cause a little damage, along with the occasional City Killer, and the next one of those isn't due in this area for another few weeks; and when it arrives, we'll be ready."

Blue and Abigail looked at each other in surprise.

"Are you trying to tell us you can predict future meteor strikes?" Blue asked doubtfully.

"I don't predict, I know! How I know is none of your business but the fact is, protecting the local population by spending most of our time underground, will ensure humanities survival for thousands of years" Gran continued before pulling at her collar.

She seemed to be feeling uncomfortable, and she was not the only one.

"Is it my imagination or is it getting hot in here?"

"Central thermostat must be on the blink again; I'll go check it" the other woman said as she turned to the door.

"Thanks Nancy" Gran Smiled.

So now Blue knew the names of Eric and Nancy. He hoped there would be no real need to remember those names, or learn those of any more of locals; he hoped he and the girls could somehow escape, and soon.

"I can understand what you're saying, most people live underground where we come from too. But you have to believe me when I say, we have important things to do so we can't stay here" Blue argued.

"Yes you can" Gran stated "Now that the Earth consists mainly of smaller village style groups, it is important that we don't all stay within our own communities. One of the things I worked on during my time with the Mars Project was biogenetic diversity, and now the Earth needs to consider the same thing. In time, if our population reaches acceptable levels, then you may be able to go home and even take some others from here with you. Then you could send back more people from your own home to live here; where did you say where you were from?"

"I didn't... and don't feel inclined to tell you either" Blue stated as he took of his jacket.

Although it was still bearable, the heat in the room was getting uncomfortable for anyone still wearing their heavy outdoor winter clothing, and soon the others in the room were also removing their coats.

"How long will it be before we can go home then?" Abigail asked "I don't think there would a problem with taking some of your people with us."

Gran arose from here chair and began to pace back and forth in front of the three.

"Glad to hear it" she smiled broadly "I would think you should be able to be on your way in about fifteen years or so."

Everybody's hearts sank at the mention fifteen years, but the argument soon continued.

"You're kidding; you can't force us to stay here for fifteen years!" Abigail hissed.

"Listen young lady, when you see how well this place is set up, and how good..."

Everyone looked at each other in confusion when Gran suddenly stopped speaking. She had a look on her face that combined surprise and anger as she stared down at the pocket of Abigail's shirt. The older woman then leapt forward and tore the shirt off the terrified girls shoulders. On the T-shirt she wore underneath, was a red circle with two letters and a number inside.

It read 'MB1'.

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**Nice to see there are a few people giving this new story a go.**

**CAUTION: GROSS MEDICAL TALK AHEAD NOT SUITABLE FOR SQUEAMISH PERSONS.**

**Thanks Vin for your concern and kind words, but rest assured; I am definitely taking care of my health.  
On the downside though, in order to keep my eyesight from getting any worse, I have to endure a series of injections in my right eye it for the next six months. Not painful but quite unpleasant. Don't worry though, everything is going great. The Doctor is really good at what he does, and the nurse holds my hand to keep me calm. I even sing during the procedure take my mind off it. ;)  
**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"YOU'RE FROM MARS!" Gran cried out as she started to shake poor Abigail by the shoulders.

Blue and Eric managed to tear the two apart and drag the angry woman back while Calla rushed in to protect Abigail.

"What do you... think you're doing?" Eric grunted as Gran threw the boys off.

Grabbing Blue by the shirt, she lifted him up and continued to shout angrily.

"MB1 MEANS MARS BASE ONE. SO TELL ME THE TRUTH; YOU ARE FROM MARS! THAT INSIGNIA PROVES IT! Now tell me the TRUTH!"

Gran's sudden show of temper had taken everyone by surprise, and none of them were sure exactly what to do about it.

"Alright, alright just calm down and let me go" Blue relented.

Dropping him back onto his feet, the snarling woman fortunately came to her senses and returned to her chair, falling into it.

"I don't like being lied to" she declared.

"And I don't like being kidnapped and abused, you crazy bi..." Blue took a deep breath and tried again without swearing "Nobody lied to you."

"THEN WHY..." Gran too tried to calm down "why didn't you tell me you were from Mars?"

"Two reasons; firstly the subject had not come up yet and I was far too concerned about why we were kidnapped, and secondly I am not from Mars..."

"LIAR!" Gran interrupted.

"Let me finish you impatient jerk!" Blue sneered and cursed himself for losing control again "I was born on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Calla is from New Zealand; only my sister is from Mars. And in case you're wondering, we were not trying to keep it a secret, we just don't bother to carry illuminated signs advertising our origins to the world."

It was not like Blue to be so angry, but Calla could understand where his frustration came from. Although Gran did not like being verbally abused, after hearing Blues explanation she began to wonder if she had over reacted. Seeing that Blue and Calla had taken a protective stance over Abigail, she continued to direct her questions to Blue for the time being.

"So why did she come back to Earth? Nobody in their right mind would choose to come back to Earth."

"Abigail and my father were on the Mars Transfer Vehicle..."

"You mean the Star Cruiser" Calla interrupted and received a 'please, not now' glance from Blue.

"As I was saying" he continued "a nasty piece of work named Neville Sage tried to kill them when they discovered something no one was supposed to know about."

"Well that explains a lot straight off the bat" Gran noted. "As a former Mars Project section head, I knew Sage and the term nasty piece of work sounds right to me; it maybe rather an understatement."

Nancy chose that moment to return, so she and Eric joined Gran and listened with interest for almost an hour as Blue recounted the rescue of his father and sister, the discovery of the Deep Council on Mars, the various murders in Mars Base One, and his mothers escape from the red planet with a few of her friends, and his youngest sister Saffron. He told them about the attempt on his mother's life, causing instead the death of the son of a Deep Council member, ultimately bringing down the secret organisation.

He went on to tell them of how he and his mother were separated only hours after his birth leaving him to be raised by Doctor Sarah Spencer, and of meeting Calla about a year ago. He purposely left out all details about the Railgun, telling them only that he Abigail, Calla and Maximilian DeGroot had been traveling to a place where he they would meet up with both their families.

"And so you can see now, why you have to let us go" Blue stated "We have to get back to the Bull Ant and its communication systems."

Eric looked to Gran for any sign of an opinion on Blues story, but she just sat in her chair, resting her chin on the backs of her hands, pondering her next words carefully.

"Sorry boy but I can't let you go" she stated bluntly "We need young people like you here."

"There are lots of people like us in the world" Calla interrupted "There's no need..."

"YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S REALLY LIKE OUT THERE" Gran shouted.

"We've just come from out there" Calla disagreed.

"You're from another country... and your friend's from another planet. Listen, when I and many others were no longer needed on the Mars project, there was no great ceremony, we were thanked for our contribution, given a generous amount of supplies and a free out to take us close to our home towns and my families."

Calla and the others could see a combination of fear and sadness in her eyes as she told her story.

"We were attacked along the way by some very desperate people who beat us and stole everything they could eat or make use of, including our vehicle. The driver didn't see any point in staying with us, so he started walking back the way he had come. The others all went off in different directions, to the places they wanted to be, leaving me to continue home on my own. It took me almost a week of walking, having almost no food and only drinking from a river that was far from clean. When I finally got home, the place was virtually devoid of life.

The few people left in town told me all about the panic that ensued when the shops ran out of food and there was no longer any fuel for their cars. The town, like so many others was looted and the people fled to who knows where."

Calla took a step forward and spoke.

"I may not be from this country, but my parents went through similar things back in New Zealand, and I dare say it happened all over the world" she said accusingly "So for you to tell me I don't know what it's like out there..."

"Maybe you do, but I'd still wager Miss Mars doesn't know what we went through" Gran interrupted again.

"Well you are wrong again" Abigail stated "I had a wonderful class tutor in Professor Topolski, who lived through..."

"You know Topolski?" Gran actually smiled.

"Knew; he was murdered by the Mars Deep Council."

Gran rose from her chair and turned away to be alone with her thoughts for a moment.

"When?" she asked.

"A few months ago" Abigail replied.

"Hmm... I had a feeling they were bad news" Gran admitted.

"Wait... you knew about the Deep Council?" Blue wondered.

"I was very careful to keep the details of what I knew quite secret" Gran nodded "If they knew I had stuck my nose in where it did not belong, I doubt very much I'd be here to tell the tale."

"So how did you all end up here?" Calla asked.

"The few people left in my home town were just trying to survive by hunting, fishing and growing some food, but I knew the only way to ensure long term survival was to literally go underground. All over the world, every part of the Mars Project was based underground, where survival food stocks were stored, and where the people with wealth and power resided. But we didn't have access to anything as good as that, so we came up with the idea of starting again in an old railway tunnel. One of the old men in our group told us about this particular freight line through Canada and Alaska, where some tunnels go all the way through the mountains, and so we gathered our supplies and set off."

"And we've been thriving here ever since" Eric nodded "Even on the outside of the tunnel, the surrounding mountains protect us from meteor strikes and atmospheric explosions."

"A direct hit would still be a disaster though" Blue noted.

"The chances of that happening are extremely low" Gran smirked.

"But one day..." Blue tried to explain.

"NO! WE ARE SAFE HERE!" Gran insisted

Even Eric decided it would be unwise to be the first to speak after her last outburst. Striding off to the far side of the room, the lady who called herself Gran took a few more deep breaths.

"Get them out of here and find them a room for the night" she eventually ordered.

"But we don't have any more rooms ready for habitation yet" Eric informed her.

"It's one night" Gran argued "Just find one with the heat connected and throw them a few blankets; we sort it all out in the morning."

It didn't sound very inviting but nonetheless, they followed Eric and Nancy as they led the three from the room and back out into the corridor where the armed men still waited.

"What on Earth happened in there?" they asked "I don't think we've ever heard Gran so upset."

"You won't believe this" Eric replied "but these kids are from Mars."

"You're kidding me" one of the men gasped.

"At least try to get it right" Calla interrupted "Abby is from Mars, Blue and I are from good ol' mother Earth."

"It's no wonder Gran was so stressed out" Nancy noted.

"It must have reopened some very old wounds" Eric continued "I've never heard her open up so much about her past; she said even things I didn't know about."

They three prisoners were taken back out to the main railway tunnel and further into another side tunnel. This one was very rough and appeared to be still under construction as it still had narrow rail tracks with a few mining carts sitting idle near the entrance. The first few rooms cut into the rock had various tools stored inside, but eventually one was found they could use. The room was empty apart from a vent and a naked light bulb above the door, and it seemed particularly uninviting.

"Wait here" Eric told them before bolting the door from the outside.

Abigail looked around and chose a rocky piece of ground to sit on, hoping it may be a little more comfortable than all the other pieces of rocky ground... but it wasn't.

"So what do we do now?" she asked trying to hide the fact that she was close to tears.

"I'll tell you what we do" Calla responded quickly "We find a way out of here and leave that crazy woman and her silly ideas behind. I mean where does she get off making everyone call her Gran, as if she was some kind of lovable old lady? She doesn't look any older than my mother."

"Yeah she seems to desire being viewed as some kind of wise matriarch" Blue noted "But I can't help wondering if her odd nature is simply due to the stress of trying to take care of so many people, or if it's because of something she found out when working on the Mars Project? That was why Professor Adisa came to North America in the first place; in an attempt to discover the truth."

"Well I'll be happy just to let her stay here, with her nutty ideas of a substandard subterranean settlement, while we all head back to Sumatra" Calla declared.

"I agree the sooner we get out of here the better, but I think we should take it slow. If we try take off as soon as we're let out of here, they'll recapture us for sure and it will just make it more difficult to come up with an escape plan that will work. We don't want them always on alert, just waiting for us to make a run for it, we want them to think we've given up."

"I think the best way..." Abigail began.

All three fell silent as soon as they heard the door bolt slide back. The door opened and Eric entered carrying some old blankets; Nancy and two others followed with a single thin stained foam mattress and a couple of pillows.

"Sorry but this was all we could come up with on such short notice" Eric stated.

The men carrying the mattress dropped it on the ground and left.

"You should think about making better preparations before you go out and kidnap under aged girls. You know there's a name for people like you" Calla sneered; her words clearly upsetting Eric.

"I'll let those insults slide for now; you'll find out tomorrow how wrong you really are" Eric snapped as he turned to leave.

Calla went back to grumbling under her breath about their sparse accommodations, causing the angry young man to turn back.

"DO YOU THINK WE ALL LIVE IN THE LAP OF LUXURY?" he snapped "If you want furniture in here, you'll damn well make it yourself."

And with that said, he slammed the door leaving them alone with Nancy.

"Well then... I know it's not much but there is warm air coming in through the vent and after breakfast tomorrow, I'll see if Gran will let me help you get your accommodations fixed up."

"All three of us have to live in one room?" Blue asked.

"It's a big room" Nancy tried to sound cheerful "And we all started out like this but over time, you'll be able to chisel out more space. We have people who can advise you on how to do that without causing a cave in."

"We have to dig out our own rooms... out of solid rock?" Calla gasped.

"We all did my dear, but you'll find if you help others with their work, they'll help you here. We all work together here" Nancy smiled.

All three of the prisoners just stared at Nancy with looks of disbelief.

"Yes... well... I'm sure things will look brighter after some rest and a hearty breakfast" she tried to smile warmly "Umm... goodnight then.

Nancy closed the door behind her and slid the bolt across, locking them in.

"Maybe you shouldn't antagonise everybody" Abigail suggested to Calla.

"No I think she did the right thing" Blue disagreed "If we come across as being too united, it could work to our disadvantage; so I think it's good if Calla gets a reputation for being angry and aloof."

"I can do that... easy" Calla smiled as she shook the dust off one of the blankets.

"Who gets the bed?" Abigail asked.

"You two share it" Blue offered "I'll just use one of the blankets."

Calla heaved an obvious sigh as she shook her head.

"You know what your problem is?" she smiled "Neither of you have had to make do with limited supplies with a large family."

Dragging the mattress next to the door, she place it length ways along the wall and spread out one blanket on the ground alongside.

"Grab a pillow each then lie down with your heads on the mattress, and your legs over the side on the blanket. If you lie that way, we all fit" Calla noted.

Before laying down herself, Calla folded the floor blanket over their feet and spread the other two blankets over them. She then reached up and switched off the light. After a minute, Abigail broke the silence.

"Cozy, but this pillow smells bad."

"None of us have a floral aroma at the moment" Blue noted.

"I can't think of another two smelly people I'd rather be with" Calla noted.

There was another short silence, broken once again by Abigail.

"I don't think I'm gonna like it here" she stated.

"Amen" Blue and Calla replied in unison.

'

* * *

'

High in the North Atlantic, southwest of Iceland, a small yellowish green reptilian creature with bulbous eyes and two scrawny, twisted horns on its head circled over a small island formed on the Mid Atlantic Ridge. No trees grew on this cold rocky outcrop and the only covering to be seen consisted of grasses, moss and shrubs. Among this sparse greenery, several breeds of sea birds sheltered; and nested and it was here that the attention of the flying lizard was drawn.

Having chosen its prey, the creature swooped down and landed almost on top of a temporarily unattended nest, and swiftly stole one of the four small eggs within. A number of birds began squawking loudly, running at the intruder with wings high and necks arched. There was no hope of recovering the egg, which had been swallowed as soon as it had been taken, but the birds seemed determined not to let the invader have any more success in its thievery. As migratory birds, they had encountered various egg stealing reptiles before, and had never had any trouble driving them off by simply banding together and making a lot of noise. But they were soon to learn, that this was no ordinary lizard.

At first the small creature retreated from the feathered onslaught, but when the birds were all bunched up in pursuit, the reptile turned suddenly, opened its mouth and sent a large fireball flying pack at the surprised flock.

Almost too late, the birds scattered in all directions as the aroma of singed feathers wafted through the air. The entire flock had learned something new and very important. There was one very distinct difference between a lizard, and a dragon.

'

* * *

**When I started writing this new tale, I was determind to move the story along faster than I usually do, just in case my health let me down. But now that I'm feeling much stronger, I've been going back over every chapter and adding more detail and more conversation. That's why this 2000 word chapter has nearly 3000 words in it ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Blue awoke early the next morning with a genuine pain is his neck, and I don't mean Calla.

"Hey; watch what you're write about me or else!"

Umm... sorry.

"Damn authors... think they're so damn smart..." Calla mumbled to herself.

After a heavy breakfast consisting of some kind of meat and vegetable stew with scrambled eggs on the side, Blue, Calla and Abigail were shown around the town outside the tunnel by Nancy, who also introduced to some of the people who lived there. They were told about the long term plan for everyone to have a home deep inside the mountain, but for now they had to do with just sleeping inside until enough homes could be dug out from the rock.

Each day the population of Gran's little village would emerge from the depths of the tunnel and get to work. They had greenhouses for growing food, with more under construction, and various workshops where needed items were made and repaired. Blue found he could not help but compare the place to the Railgun Complex that had once been his home, although his place was much rougher and unfinished.

The stronger people took turns to go deep into the tunnel to dig out more space, while a few others took trips into the nearby forest to check their animal traps. None of the prisoners were allowed anywhere near the gated wall that enclosed the canyon that led to the tunnel, but Calla still took every opportunity to look for any weaknesses or gaps in their security. Probably the biggest surprise from that first day was the discovery that they were the only ones taken to this place by force; everyone else was one of the original inhabitants.

"In the past, Gran wouldn't let other people come here because she didn't want the place to be over run before we could take care of ourselves" Nancy explained "But now we're getting to the point where we need to bring in just a few more young people so... well... you know."

"You might as well say it" Abigail sneered "She only wants us for our genetics; you really don't need us specifically, so why do we have to be your prisoners."

"Oh you won't be prisoners forever" Nancy argued in such a pleasant manor "Once you get to know everyone and realise what a long and safe life you'll be having here..."

"You think we're eventually going develop some kind of freaky Stockholm Syndrome stuff, or something like that?" Blue half laughed at the thought.

"I'm sure you'll come around in the end" Nancy's smile was sickly sweet and rather disturbing.

In the afternoon, the three newcomers were in for a surprise when loud siren sounded and their guards herded Blue and the girls back to the tunnel, along with the rest of the population; the last ones in being the guards from the front gate. Everyone was sent deep into the tunnel, a head count being taken as they passed the first intersection. As soon as they arrived and were all gathered in the one place, they were lined up to be counted again.

"What's going on?" Blue asked the person nearest to him.

"Don't worry, it's just a drill" the man replied "We have an outpost on the top of the mountain to give us warning if a meteor should enter the atmosphere nearby. When the alarm sounds, we all head down here where it's safe and when the space rock has exploded, we head back out again."

"How often do you have these drills?" Calla asked.

"Oh they're pretty random, but once a month at least" the man told them.

With what was left of the day, the three were given the opportunity to spend time in the village carpentry shop so they could start working on some basic furniture for their room. Nancy continued to stick close by and managed to convince some of the more skilled crafters to help the newcomers along. After sunset there was another community meal in the same part of the tunnel where they had earlier gathered for the safety drill and when they had finished cleaning up, the three were all locked up in their room again.

Whilst still quite barren, their large living area had been made a little more comfortable with a few more additions. The old mattress they had slept on the night before now sat on a good sized bed sitting against the far wall opposite the door. Blue had managed to gather up some old unused tarps to put on the ground under the bed for him to sleep on, while Abigail and Calla slept with their heads at opposite ends of their new piece of bedroom furniture; sometimes there were advantages to being short. Blue was pleased he would not have to sleep on bare rock, and it was quite cozy under the tall bed, but they could all use more bedding and pillows.

"Just think, this time yesterday I didn't even know what a dovetail joint was, yet today I used them to help build a bed" Abigail noted.

"Given time, maybe we could turn this place into a home" Blue added. "Eric said because of the help we gave today, tomorrow he'd try and get a few people to help me make a start on digging out a second room. Considering how tough the rock is, it'll take a month or two to get anywhere."

"Listen up you guys" Calla interrupted "I don't want either of you getting emotionally invested in this place. I for one just want to get out of here as soon as humanly possible."

"No fear of that happening" Blue smiled to himself "But I still think it's a good idea if Abby and I pretend to fit in, while you act very hostile to this place. If there appears to be a separation of ideals between us, Abby and I may be able to find out some helpful information."

"Okay... but as long as you're only pretending to like it here" Calla agreed.

"Who knows... it may not work anyway" Blue admitted "But we gotta try it I suppose."

None of the three managed to sleep well this night either. Calla even spent much of her time in the dark plotting and planning, giving her some very unsettling dreams.

'

* * *

'

At that very moment, over thirteen thousand kilometres away, a second Dream Chaser space shuttle was launched from the Railgun Facility in West Sumatra. Although capable of carrying up to seven people, the small craft brought nothing but cargo on this trip. A few hours later it docked with the MTV Star Cruiser, recently returned from a trip to the Asteroid Belt via Mars. As soon as it had been unloaded, two and a half passengers boarded with their belongings for the trip bak to Earth.

"Do you have any idea how much I'm going to miss you?" Luis Dias told his wife.

"I just can't believe you're going to be off in space during the birth of our fourth child" April replied "That's four for four; a perfect record."

"You know I never planned for it to be this way" Luis defended himself "For this one I thought we would all be together on Mars... but fate had other ideas."

Soon the time had come for April and her daughter Saffron to take the small ship back to its launch site as the Star Cruiser came back around the planet on another orbit. Ten year old Saffron Dias had no trouble with the seat harness straps, but the heavily pregnant April needed quite a lot of help to get seated and ready.

"Mom, are we going to be shot at like Abigail and Blue were?" Saffron asked as the ship undocked.

"Don't worry Saffy" April reached over and squeezed her daughters hand "We'll be taking a polar orbit over the South Pole and re-enter the atmosphere over the Southern Ocean. We'll be way out of range of Sage and his missiles."

The young girl crossed her fingers anyway as the shuttles rear engines fired briefly to redirect and slow the ship.

A few hours later later, not far from the beach south of Tiku Sumatra, Peter Moke scanned the sky through a pair of powerful binoculars. His two-way radio had just given him an update on the shuttles arrival and even though it was still thirty minutes away, he was already feeling very anxious. The last time he had been in this position, the shuttle had never arrived, and many hours passed before he finally learned that his friends Blue and Calla had not died in a fiery crash, but had landed safely at the abandoned Edwards Air Force Base in California.

"Relax; they'll be okay" the driver of Peter's Land Rover predicted as he half dozed in his seat.

Peter glanced at the ambulance on his left, then to the fire truck on the right as he took a deep breath. He was glad to have them near but hoped they would not be needed. Finally after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, a voice on his radio informed him the shuttle was on its final approach.

Peter glanced back at the emergency vehicles to steady his nerves as he took another deep breath.

"Okay, start 'em up" he called to the drivers.

Taking up his binoculars again, Peter resumed scanning the sky until he at last saw a tiny speck in the distance. As soon as he had sat back down in the passenger's seat, the Land Rover started down the dirt road parallel to the runway with the other vehicles close behind. Several seconds later the shuttle flew past at high speed and touched down just ahead. Peter directed the driver to pull onto the runway and give chase as fast as they could manage. With the Dream Chaser's braking chutes deployed, the shuttle soon rolled to a stop allowing the slower vehicles to finally catch up.

"Shuttle to Star Cruiser; we are down and safe" April reported to her anxious husband.

It took the signal a few seconds to reach low Earth orbit, but eventually they received Luis's welcome reply.

"Ah good, I can breathe again" he admitted "I'll be moving out of range soon. Give my best to Sarah and... good luck my darling; Star Cruiser out."

At the back of the craft, April and Saffron heard the hatch open; they turned to see a tall man climbing in.

"Welcome to Earth; I'm Peter" he smiled.

"Hello Peter" April smiled back as she unbuckled herself and attempted to rise up out of her seat.

"Let me help you" Peter offered the struggling lady.

"This was a lot easier in micro gravity" April admitted.

"Yeah it looks like you're carrying a future rugby player in there" Peter joked "Are you sure there's only one?"

"According to my last ultrasound there is" she replied.

The crew of the Ambulance helped April down as her feet touched the Earth for the first time in over sixteen years. Peter then turned around to help the shuttles second passenger and was surprised to see her cowering in terror at the front of the craft cabin.

"You alright little sister?" he asked with concern.

"Th...there's.. n-no airlock" Saffron stammered.

"That's right... you don't need one here" Peter reassured her.

He held out his hand to the young girl who slowly gathered the courage to step forward a little. As Peter led the shivering Saffron closer to the rear hatch, he could feel her trying to pull back.

"I'll go down first" he said and dropped to the ground.

Realising what was happening with her daughter, April mover over to where Saffron could see her.

"It's alright Honey" she smiled at Saffron.

Peter held up his arms and helped lower this new visitor out of her ship and onto the runway. Still looking like a frightened rabbit, Saffron held her hands close to her chest as she looked around.

"Mom... what happened to the air" she said in mild panic.

"What's wrong with it Saffy?"

"I can't smell it... are you sure there's enough?"

"Yes Saffy, there's plenty of air" April nodded.

The Ambulance crew did their level best not to laugh as it was clear to see Saffron was genuinely scared.

"Why... how... how is it all moving like that?" the young girl asked with urgency.

"That's just the breeze" Peter knelt down "I'd be happy to tell you how it works when we get back to base; is that okay?"

"Mom... can I put on the rest of my pressure suit?"

It only took a few minutes to retrieve Saffron's gloves and helmet from the shuttle and fit them to her suit, but the emotional change in the girl from Mars was almost instantaneous. Riding back to the Railgun base in the Land Rover no longer filled Saffron with fear. She no longer cared that this strange Earth vehicle was not sealed because she was safe inside her pressure suit breathing its supply of bottled air; air with the slight aroma of light oil, air she more was familiar with. After their transport had been parked deep underground, the new arrivals were greeted by a familiar face.

"April... Mars has been good to you" Doctor Sarah Spencer declared.

With her arms outstretched, Sarah rushed forward and hugged her old friend before helping her out of the Land Rover.

"So many years since we were in the same place together, and you're just as big as the last time I saw you" Sarah smiled at April's baby belly.

"Maybe... but this one is three kids later" April noted.

The rear door of the vehicle opened and a short figure clad in orange with a white helmet stepped out and approached them.

"What on Earth have we got here?" Sarah wondered.

"This my dear friend is what I believe to be the first person in history to suffer from some form of Interplanetary Agoraphobia; meet Saffron my youngest daughter... currently."

"I think I'm okay now we're inside Mom" Saffron declared while fumbling with her left glove.

Peter Moke joined the group and began to help Sarah as she assisted the young girl to remove the pressure suit.

"I have a feeling this could be a common problem for any Mars born person on their first trip to Earth" April explained. "From the time their education first starts, we are always training our children in the dangers of being on the Mars surface. They are so accustomed to triple checking each other's surface suits and proper use of airlocks, being outside made Saffy very anxious until we refitted her safety equipment."

"Very interesting; I must tell Doctor Vieira about this" Sarah nodded "but for now, we need to discuss what we are going to do about Neville Sage and his private army."

"I suggest a large wooden stick followed by a sturdy jail cell... welded shut! "April declared only half in jest.

'

* * *

'

Far away on the small rock island in the North Atlantic, a flock of very nervous birds continued to protect their eggs, even though none of them dare challenge the small dragon as it rested nearby at the centre of their nesting grounds. About fifteen minutes earlier, they had all witnessed the fate of a large male bird when it had returned from its afternoon fishing trip. Not having seen what had happened to the others when they had attacked the winged reptile, this bold sea bird swooped in low and pecked at the dragon's head as it sped by in a vain attempt to drive away the intruder. The late birds only reward for it brave attempt to protect the nesting grounds, was to take some satisfaction in giving the small yellowish green dragon a slight case of indigestion.

'

* * *

'

**I know some of you may live in places that have ice and snow each winter but as an Australian, I start to feel chilly when it gets below 20 Celsius (68F). I'm sure any of you from warm places can relate too. Today it is 13C and I am wearing so many layers of clothes, it's hard to move. ;) Boo the cat refuses to move far from the window, wanting any amount of sunshine her fuzzy fur can get.**

**Not much to do here in winter so I have gone onto a seven day work week. Fortunately winter is short here with the coldest weather only lasting about ten weeks, so in another forty days the temperature should be up to 17 – 18C. That small increase makes a very big difference in local lifestyle.**

**Big hi (and wave) to Vin, Draco38 and all you others giving my story a go. I am pleased and thank you for giving me your time. See ya in a few weeks, Marty.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Metal fabrication, micro hydraulics and electronic control systems were more to Blues liking because of all the experience he had gained living and working back at the Railgun complex. But now the young man needed to try and pick up all the ins and outs of working with wood, and it was not easy. For Abigail the situation was even more difficult; she was accustomed to programming computer controlled manufacturing systems. Calla had already picked up some skills from working with her father, but she still had a lot to learn. Every day though they continued to create more pieces of rough furniture for the underground room that was also their night time prison, while also farming and generally helping out.

After a few days, the three settled into life at the mountain refuge camp, and had even been permitted to venture outside the wall that closed off the canyon. On the outside they would go hunting, fishing and collecting wood for crafting and fires. Many conditions had been put on this small freedom; only one of the three was permitted outside at any one time, and there must always be at least two other chaperones to keep an eye on them. Gran figured no member this tight little group would try to run away without the other two and she was right, but Calla soon realised she could use this fact to their advantage. And so one night in their locked room, she told Blue and Abigail her plan.

"Our best bet for getting out of here is to take advantage of the regular safety drills."

"Good start, but how?" Blue asked.

"Cast your mind back to the dawn of time, then fast forward to our first day here" Calla whispered.

"Oh... funny girl" Abigail smirked.

"Calla; master of droll comedy" the young girl smirked and then revealed her plan "I noticed when the emergency safety drill happened last week, some guys with clipboards checked off each person as they entered the tunnel, so they would know if anyone was missing. Therefore the first thing we have to do, is be sure we're all checked off."

"Won't be easy to escape if we're trapped inside and surrounded by entire population of this place" Blue noted.

"I admit getting out of the tunnel un-noticed will be the tricky part, but I think I've worked out a way" Calla gave a sly grin.

"We're listening" Abigail leant in.

"Two things to remember; firstly the initial check as we enter the tunnel, and secondly the outer wall guards are the last ones inside."

"Okay but... so?" Blue shrugged.

"So we have to be the last of the general population into the tunnel, just ahead of the wall guards. If we can get checked off and stay at the back of the line as everyone heads deeper in, we can peel off somewhere and hide. If we manage stay out of sight near the entrance, the wall guards will pass by with the clipboard guys, and then we can make a run for it. There'll be no one else outside, so we should get a good head start."

"But they do full roll call when everyone is gathered deep inside the tunnel" Abigail noted.

"Yes but that head count took a long time to do; so by the time they get organised and get it finished, we will be long gone" Calla nodded smugly.

The room was quiet for short time as the Dias siblings gave Calla's idea due consideration.

"It might work" Blue noted "but if it doesn't, you can be sure Gran will keep us firmly locked up in the future."

"Then we have to make sure we get it right the first time" Calla declared.

The plan sounded risky but well thought out, so they all agreed they should try it. Even though they had managed to make their room a little more comfortable with basic handmade furniture and a few scrounged items, all three found it difficult to close their eyes that night as each one ran through the plan in their minds. Over the next few days they made the one simple preparation needed; although the inside of the tunnel was wide enough for the freight trains it was originally built for, it was not made to look pretty inside and had rough walls with rocks protruding in many places. Blue took advantage of this and hid the dirty old tarpaulin he had been sleeping on, under a small alcove in a dimly lit section the tunnel wall. With this one prop in place, all they needed to do now was to wait for the right time.

'

* * *

'

The best place inside the Railgun Complex for briefing a large group, was the main staging area where the capsules, payloads and boosters all came together for assembly before being launch into space. The wide expanse allowed a high number of people to fit inside comfortably, and the high ceiling made for better communication. And so, a few hours after the arrival of April Dias, the scientists and engineers of the Railgun Complex, along with the population of the nearby town of Padang and many of the refugees from the fleet that had originally brought Calla, all gathered together to hear the latest bad news.

"If everyone would please take note of this map" Sarah pointed to the large projection on the back wall.

"Here we see the general area covering a distance of about forty kilometres around the Railguns underground entrance. All the former defence weaponry from the tanker has been recovered from Padang and placed in these strategic points; two Phalanx Guns placed back on the stern of the tanker, two at the top of the entrance ramp, one at the bottom of the ramp, and the last three at hidden points along the road, which has also been booby trapped along the way back here. We also have two Surface to Air rocket launchers but only five rockets between them. Finally there are six handguns and three rifles, all with limited ammunition" Sarah noted.

Everyone in the room listened nervously. The Railgun Staff only had a very small amount combat training, and that was about twenty years ago, and they never had any reason to use it before. And as for the people of Padang and the refugee fleet, they had always been more concerned with survival than battle.

"Is that going to be enough to defend the base?" one of the engineers wondered.

"There was a time when I thought so, but now..."

Sarah took a step back and looked to April Dias who sat nearby. Struggling to get out of her chair, the heavily pregnant woman stepped forward to speak.

"Most of you know me but for the more recent arrivals, I'm April the mother of Henry Dias, or Blue Dias as you all know him. If we can have the next image on the screen please?"

With a slight flicker, the map changed into the image of several small black dots on a sea of blue.

"These were taken from the MTV Starcruiser only a few hours before my daughter Saffron and I left the ship to return here. We have every reason to believe this is the long feared attack force lead by Commander Neville Sage; a rather nasty man who once tried to kill my husband and oldest daughter. He is also suspect in many shady operations and assassinations, both here on Earth as well as on Mars, stretching back over twenty years. Ever since he was exiled to Earth a few months ago, it has become clear that he will stop at nothing to get himself off this planet, and back to the relative safety of Mars."

"And we have to stop him?" another person asked.

"Stopping him would be wonderful" Sarah interrupted "but if you look closely, you'll see something quite disturbing in the middle of Sage's fleet. When our ship the One and All returned from the US, the acting Captain Jack Sumner informed me that the raiding ships were mostly quite small and nothing to be overly concerned about, but it looks like Sage has been busy."

"You may have noticed this ship near the centre of the fleet is much larger than the others" April noted before asking for the next image.

"Here we see a slightly closer shot showing that this is some kind of warship, probably a destroyer or light cruiser. It appears to be under tow by these three smaller ships."

There were a few light laughs from the assembled group and a few even made sarcastic comments about how worried they were by this broken ship.

"Actually we should be worried, considering the size of those deck guns" Maynard Linwood realise what others had missed.

"And indeed we are" Sarah agreed "Originally we assumed Sage would either try and land near the tanker, where the phalanx guns would pick off his ships while they were still a few hundred meters from shore, or he would land in the bay south of Padang where he and his raiders would encounter our traps all the way back to the Railgun entrance. But even though his warship is not able to propel itself, it doesn't really have to. All he has to do is get that ship close and those deck guns could easily pick off our phalanx guns before coming into range and then he could move it in closer to shore and shell the entire area around the beach, enabling him to land virtually unchallenged."

A short silence followed Sarah's words until Maynard asked the obvious question.

"Is there any way we could stop that ship before it gets here?" he asked.

"I'm sorry but... no" Sarah admitted "The only way would be if we could attack by air or from underwater but we have neither aircraft nor a combat submarine, so we've come up with a different plan."

The entire room leant forward in anticipation until Sarah spoke again.

"We surrender... and give him what he wants."

'

* * *

'

The sun was low in the sky and would soon sink below the skyline of the western mountains, covering the prison like settlement in a veil of depressing shadows. Blue and his escorts were on their way back to the outer wall with the weight of a seven meter cut log pressing down on their shoulders. If they could just get it back to the saw mill before it got too dark, they could relax knowing the day had been a success and they could leave the work of cutting it up into usable lumber until tomorrow.

Back inside the walled compound, Abigail and Calla had been put to work inside one of the green houses. Although it was still a very different environment for Abigail, the greenhouse still had a familiar feel about it.

"We had places like this back on Mars you know" she said to Calla "but they were much bigger of course because we had no other source of food. No forest to hunt in, no rivers full of fish..."

"And its making you feel very emotional and homesick isn't it?" Calla noted.

"No... not really" Abigail replied "it's just..."

"Being here IS making you very emotional... isn't it?" Calla repeated.

"Oh... um yes" Abigail suddenly realised what Calla was suggesting and acted appropriately.

Even though their situation was far from perfect, Abigail had been feeling very calm lately. The initial shock of being taken prisoner had passed and she felt sure it was only a matter of time until they escaped or someone came to rescue them. Abigail felt sure her parents would become aware if she, Blue and Calla did not get back to Sumatra in a reasonable amount of time, and Max DeGroot could also be relied upon to get word back to Sumatra eventually somehow. He probably wouldn't go himself because he certainly would not want to be far away from the Heirs of Berk.

But changing her mood to suit Calla's plan came quite easily to Abigail as she purposely began to think of never seeing her family again, of waiting years before finally being married off against her will and living out her life in this cold and bleak place. Soon her breathing became more erratic and her eyes began to water. Her lips started to tremble as she whimpered and sobbed, drawing the attention of those around her.

"What's wrong with your friend?" someone sneered.

"She'll be alright" Calla replied as a few other people looked on disapprovingly "Just give us a minute."

Calla put her arm around Abigails shoulder and led her out of the greenhouse. To the people inside, the young girl appeared to be comforting her distraught friend, but the truth was something quite different.

"Well done; you're quite the actress" Calla noted.

"I trod the boards on Mars more than once" Abigail smiled to herself.

"Huh?" was Calla's only reply to the revelation.

"It means I've been in theatrical productions; we do have some culture on Mars" Abigail explained.

"Okay whatever" Calla said dismissively "but for now I need to talk to you about our escape plan."

"What about it?" Abigail wondered what else needed to be done.

"I hate to say this but... it's not going to work."

W-what... why?" Abigail gasped.

"The plan should get us outside the wall, but it would only be a matter of time before they ran us down and dragged us all back here" Calla revealed.

Abigail could feel her heart beating faster. Their escape plan had given her a level of hope and it had just been ripped away from her.

"What are we going to do? We have to tell Blue as soon as he..."

"No! Blue must never know" Calla insisted.

"But... but why won't..?"

"If you'll give me a chance, I'll tell you" Calla declared and lowered her voice even more.

,

* * *

,

The last few days on the rocky island had been good to the small dragon. The birds mostly left him alone and the fishing was good. After eating the best parts of a particularly large salmon, he decided the time had come to move on. So he stood up, raised up his rear haunches and stretched out his legs and wings, following his stretch with a quick shake. Then with one bound he jumped up on a nearby rock, crouched down and leapt into the air. The birds of the island followed the deep sound of the dragons beating wings and as soon as they were sure he was well and truly out of sight, a few of the braver ones crept forward and began to feast on the remains of the dragons fish breakfast.

The dragon had made a habit of exploring the area and so based on his past movements, they all felt sure he would not return for a few hours at least, maybe not until the end of the day. What they did not know was that the small fire breather did not plan to return at all.

,

* * *

,

**Caution: Minor Spoilers Ahead ! (nothing major)**

**I often wonder if anyone is frustrated with this series of stories because it is so far into the third book, and there has been very little dragon action. The reason is before I started writing, I decided I did not want to write anything like 'One day, a boy walked into a cave and found a dragon' as that was just too simple. With delusions of grandeur, I wanted to come up with a more epic story that would see the Dragons return be a major event in the history of Earth. That's why I decided to combine it with another major event, the near destruction of the planet and a desperate need to colonise other parts of the solar system (with a few James Bond style villains thrown in to make life difficult).**

**Knowing that the Creswell books and film would end with the dragons leaving their human pets, meant there was plenty of scope for an eventual rediscovery (unless the story ended with dragon extinction and none of us wanted to see that). Fortunately for me (and all other HTTYD fans), the third film could not have been better for a story like this. I'm sure many other FanFic writers will also be able to use what the films left us with and come up with some cool stories.**

**Rest assured that dragons will not just pop back in at the end of the next story, they will have a major part later in this one, and be in almost all of the next.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Hmm" Doctor Quill Vieira pondered the screen before him.

"Hmmmm" he said again "Would you like to know the sex of the baby?"

"I already know; it's a girl" April declared.

"Did you get an ultrasound back on Mars?" Sarah Spencer asked

"No... It's just that she's late" April noted "Henry was born three weeks early but both Abigail and Saffy were well overdue."

"Is she right?" Sarah asked Doctor Vieira.

"I can only say so if April asks me to" the Doctor replied with a smirk on his face.

Sarah looked to her friend expecting her to ask the question, but April just put her head back on the pillow and sighed.

"Tell me we're doing the right thing Sarah" she said.

"Well I don't know; does Luis want to know if it's a boy or a girl?"

"Not the baby, about Sage and his band of not so jolly pirates" April huffed.

"I really think if we try to fight them, we'll only succeed in delaying the inevitable... and end up losing a lot of good people in the process" Sarah nodded.

"True, but I trust Sage about as far as I could throw him."

"I bet you'd like to try throwing him" Sarah smiled.

"Yeah... but there's never a convenient volcano around when you need one" April sighed again.

With the ultrasound done, Doctor Vieira picked up a towel and stared wiping off the gel from Aprils belly, speaking softly but sternly as he did so.

"You are going to have to trust Sarah and her people to get this done without your input. Until this baby appears you need to relax and avoid any stress" he insisted.

"Quill is right" Sarah agreed "We're going to remove most of the personnel from the complex. I hope this will mean Sage's forces won't feel outnumbered and get all defensive and trigger happy. We'll do our best to get the lot of these raiders up into space and off to Mars as soon as we can. Then when Sage has what he wants, everything should go back to normal and we can resume work on the asteroid settlement."

"I know the Mars Transfer Vehicle is over twenty years old and not as good as it used to be, but I still don't like the idea of giving it back to Sage" April sneered.

Sarah took her friends hand and smiled.

"It won't be long, and we'll have something better under construction" she said reassuringly "Work has already begun in secret with some of the new ship sections already hidden at the bottom of the Railgun Tunnel with our remaining Dream Chaser Shuttles."

"What if Sage finds them?" April noted with fear.

"Firstly I doubt Sage will want to search that far down and secondly, we've bricked off the end of the tunnel so he'd have to do some serious excavating" Sarah noted.

"You always were sneaky" April smiled.

"Speaking of sneaky, you're sure the cube sat launch went well?"

"All I can tell you Sarah, is that the shuttles onboard computer verified all cube sats were launched at the right time, well before the ship docked with the Star Cruiser" April informed her friend.

"Then I supposed we'll just have to wait and see if anyone tries to make contact" Sarah looked impatiently forlorn.

"Alright April it's time to go to your room" Doctor Vieira ordered "Now that your fears have been put to rest, I want you to do the same."

"Mars or Earth, it matters not" April glared "You doctors are all the same."

As soon as they were alone in the corridor, April leaned close to Sarah's ear.

"Are you sure you don't want to let anyone else know what we're up to?"

"I want to, bt I' dare not risk it" Sarah whispered back "It would only take one slip of the tongue for Sage to find out and then all would be lost. I just have to trust in the hope that everyone will trust me."

'

* * *

'

Calla had planned to continue working with Abigail for the rest of the day but when the time came to change jobs, Blues sister had been sent off to learn more machine maintenance skills with a few experienced mechanics, while Calla was ordered back inside the old railway tunnel. She soon found herself being escorted back to Gran's outer office, where she was stared at for a small eternity by the imposing woman.

Eventually Gran rose from her chair, walked around her desk and stood uncomfortably close behind the young girl. Calla shivered as she felt the older woman's breath on the back of her neck. Just as she was wondering what was coming next, she violently found out. Grabbing the back of her hair, Gran pulled back on Calla's head and growled in her ear.

"I don't like thieves" Gran barked.

"Well I don't like kidnappers" Calla replied, poking the bear.

Gran angrily pushed Calla's head, throwing her forward onto the desk.

"Give it back" Gran sneered as Calla stood up again.

The young girl reached into the left knee pocket of her pants, pulled out a small novel she had taken from one of the outer buildings and tossed it onto the desk.

"I just wanted something to read during the long boring evenings; I'd have put it back when I was done."

"You could have asked to borrow it" Gran hissed.

"Could've, should've, didn't" Calla shrugged.

Gran face turned red with rage as she drew back her hand, having every intent of striking Calla with great force. But instead she took a deep breath, thought better of it and returned to her chair.

"You're up to something" Gran said accusingly.

"Before you made me give the book back, I was up to page 79."

"That's not funny."

"Neither was page 78" Calla smirked.*

Gran sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose and shook her head.

"Look... I know you have not been here long, but why can't you try to fit in... just a little bit?"

"I was fitting in nicely where I was till you stopped me from going back there" Calla snorted.

A sly smile crept across Gran's face as she leant back in her chair.

"I assume you mean Sumatra with Linton Adisa and his band of blind fools."

The surprise on Calla's face was plain to see as she wondered who would have told Gran the details of where she had come from.

"Don't worry, neither of your little friends talked but the look you just gave confirmed my suspicions. I had a feeling if the other girl had come from Mars, then Professor Adisa must be involved somewhere along the line" Gran nodded.

"If you know the Professor, then you know he can help you to..."

"I KNOW HIM BETTER THAN YOU DO GIRLY!" Gran thumped her fist on the desk, cutting Calla off.

The muscular woman turned her back and took a few steps towards the back wall of the room.

"Oh yes... I know Professor... Linton... Adisa... and let me tell you, he is not as smart as he thinks he is."

So many come backs about Calla's faith in the elderly Jamaican man, in comparison to the low opinion she held of the lady in front of her, flashed through the young girls mind but she decided this would be a good time to show some discretion.

"He seemed pleasant enough" Calla decided those words may get her some more information without getting her head bitten off again.

"Being 'pleasant' didn't help when billions of lives were at stake, and it won't help now either. If Adisa had listened to me, we could have saved so many more people. Do you know how many were sent to Mars?" Gran asked

"About two thousand I think" Calla replied.

"EXACTLY!" Gran exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air and pacing back and forth "Two thousand... two... damn... thousand. Billions died so we could save two... ... ... ... thousand."

The stocky woman's head dropped as she fought back the tears, while Calla just stood there not knowing what to think about the ouburst.

"I'm sure he did his best... and it's better than nothing" Calla shrugged.

Gran suddenly turned back to face Calla, almost pleading to be heard.

"You... don't understand... you can't... ... ... no!"

Whatever Gran was going to expose, some part of her mind simply refused to let the information out. Composing herself once more, the lady barked one last set of orders to her prisoner

"You! Keep your nose clean, don't steal anything else and concentrate on your work; you can learn a lot here, and it could save your life someday."

Storming over to her door, Gran threw it open and surprised the two people who had brought Calla down the tunnel.

"Get her out of here, put her back to work" she ordered.

'

* * *

'

Later that night, Calla told Blue and Abigail about her strange encounter with the enigmatic woman and the questions she had.

"The way she carried on, anyone would think Professor Adisa was to blame for everything" Calla noted.

"Maybe she blames the Professor for not sending her to Mars; or someone close to her" Abigail suggested.

Calla pondered the idea for a few seconds.

"No it sounded more like she told him something important, but he didn't believe her."

"How did you come up with something so specific?" Blue asked.

"It was like Gran wanted to tell me something, but was too scared. Maybe she thought I'd laugh at her; maybe someone laughed at her before."

"Well I'm sorry but under the circumstances, I don't feel like giving her any sympathy" Blue stated as Abigail nodded in agreement.

Calla lay back on her bed and stared at the ceiling.

"Don't you think it's weird though, meeting someone else who was involved with the Mars Project?" she noted.

"If you had asked me that question back when we landed at Edwards, I would have agreed wholeheartedly. But now that I think about it, during the times of greatest devastation, all the people working on the Mars project were working mostly in deep underground workshops; and so they were the most likely to survive. Add that to the number of people we have met in settlements and towns during out journey across the North American continent and we were bound to meet some eventually" Blue pointed out.

"Good point" Calla nodded "But I still think it's freaky that she personally knows Professor Adisa."

There was a short silence as the three considered the odds until Blue asked a question none of them could answer.

"I wonder how the Professor is doing right now?"

'

* * *

'

At that very time, Professor Linton Adisa was doing something of vital importance; trying to keep Captain Reed Branson alive. It was humiliating and totally unnecessary, but Sage had given standing orders that the man he called Branson the Betrayer be always kept chained up. This meant the only way he could eat was to be spoon fed by the Professor.

"Hurry up, I want to get back to the bridge as soon as possible" Carson Rake barked.

"You know this would go much quicker without the handcuffs" Professor Adisa noted to no avail.

"Just get on with it" was Rakes only reply.

Ever since Sage had taken over the remains of the Earth First Alliance from the now deceased Prime Governor Redding, he had shown nothing but contempt for his prisoners. With the help of Captain Branson's crew on the ship One and All, Adisa had managed to get information to Doctor Sarah Spencer about Sages planned attack. These two men were also the primary reason why Sage had less of everything; troops, ships and time. This was why he always kept the Professor close by his side, while keeping Branson locked up in his flagships brig.

"Alright, we've finished" Linton informed their guard.

He then stepped aside as Carson Rake holstered his side arm and stepped forward to undo the chain that held Branson's cuffs tightly bound to the floor. The second silent guard trained his rifle on Branson, almost daring him to make a wrong move. Sage knew full well that Reed Branson was an ordinary man and did not have the kind of secret skills needed to steal a fork and then use it to unlock his cell door in daring escape attempt, but he still insisted on treating Branson as if he were some kind of superhuman escapologist.

Sage had two reasons for doing this; the first was to humiliate and punish Branson for acting as a spy for the Professor and Doctor Spencer, and the other was so Adisa would always keep in mind that Branson's life was dependant on the Professor doing as he was told.

"Come on, back to the bridge" Rake said when he had finished.

"Say hi to Sage for me" Reed called after them before he lay on his bunk.

As Carson Rake shepherded Professor Adisa up the stairs, he could hear a strange voice coming from the ships radio but whoever it was, they had signed off before he entered.

"Ah... Professor" Neville Sage smiled as the two men stepped onto the bridge.

Linton did not like it when Sage smiled. To be fair, he also did not like it when Sage frowned either; or when he was overly sad, angry, happy or indeed showed any other kind of emotion. The only time Professor Adisa felt anywhere close safe, was when Sage was contentedly neutral; and that was only when he slept.

"You'll never guess who I was just speaking to on the radio" Sage continued without giving Linton a chance to try "None other than the one and only Doctor Sarah Spencer; and you'll never guess what she wanted."

"Err... me?" Linton replied.

"Oh I'm sure she does want you back safe and sound Professor, and that would be why she requested we talk to discuss terms."

Sage turned towards the window and smiled as he looked out over the ship's bow and to the horizon.

"I'll give her terms alright" he said menacingly "She either gives me what I want, or she watches her people suffer."

'

* * *

'

As usual, the North Atlantic was vast, cold and windy. This made level flight quite difficult for the small dragon but to be fair, even a beast with the mass of a Rumblehorn would find the weather somewhat of a bother. The creature's internal navigation served it well though and before the day's end, it had found the island it had sought.

Unlike the last rocky outcrop it had rested on, this new place seemed to be almost devoid of life. Once again there were a few seabirds, but the feathered flyers did not nest here and were only using the island to rest their wings; as well as indulging in a quick feed before moving on. Feeding was also high on the list of priorities for the dragon so after circling the island once to get his bearings, the determined beast dove sharply into the south bay and snatched a good sized salmon before emerging from the water and rising back into the air.

With its prey firmly secured in its jaws, the dragon flew up and into the islands most prominent geological feature; a dormant yet smouldering volcano.

'

* * *

'

**As I work ahead on this story, I have just stared writing Chapter 19 which should be the end of Act One. Some of you will remember that I am a bus driver IRL and because schools are out for two weeks, I've had a lot of free time to write.**

**Thanks to Madhuntr and SukiLei for following, Vin and Draco38 for your messages and reviews, and to all the other readers for... well... reading.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi everyone :) **

**Sorry I'm a little late with this one, I got caught up with IRL stuff and just forgot to post. (whoops)**

Chapter 7

The day felt cold and fresh down in the tunnel, and when Blue, Calla and Abigail emerged into the light with all the others, they found the outdoors was quite bleak. The sky was dark and grey with low clouds covering the hills and mountains around them while a mist like rain made everything damp and uninviting.

"I hope we're not going out into the forest today" Blue noted.

"I think working the forge would be best for us today" Eric decided.

As the days turned into weeks, Gran made a vain attempt to make the newcomers feel more at home by giving permission for them to spend only half the day doing general work and training. After lunch they were able to choose a task for themselves so they could make their one room home more liveable. Blue decided that although the room was quite spacious, he would work on making it larger even though it would be a long slow process.

To this end, he spent most afternoons pounding away at the rock wall with a large hammer and a sharp chisel. To the people around him, it would seem that he was creating a bigger home because he had become content to stay. Blue was pleased this was what they thought, while in reality he Calla and Abigail simply bided their time till they could escape.

The two girls spent time in the saw mill and carpenters shop adding to their furniture, and also making curtain walls to subdivide their living space. Nancy had told them it could be years before they were able to have their own rooms so hanging cloth seemed to be their only hope of any privacy in the near future. Gran did suggest Blue could be moved into another room shared by some men, but Abigail would not here of it. Being still new to Earth, she did not feel safe or content unless her brother was nearby.

After a very early start, the morning dragged on and on for a small eternity until at last, the time for lunch was at hand. Just as they always did, Blue Abigail and Calla finished up after the morning shift very slowly. They wanted to spend as much time outside as possible because if there were a Meteorite Safety Drill while they were inside, their escape plan would never work. And so they were always among the last people in the tunnel, and were also among the first back out again after lunch; often still eating as they went.

But today fate had decided there would be no lunch for any of them, for just as Abigail hung up the last of the woodworking tools on the back wall, the unmistakable sound of the warning siren filled the air. Everyone else inside the saw mill quickly made for the door and hurried towards the mouth of the tunnel. Calla was caught up in the rush but managed to let the crowd pass her when she was out in the open.

Making her way towards the window, Abigail quickly took in the situation outside. She saw Blue looking for her as he made his way across the compound. Calla soon caught up with him and appeared to tell him where his sister was without pointing in an obvious way. Abigail knew her timing would have to be precise; she needed to leave the building late enough to fall in at the back of the crowd, but early enough so as not to be seen by the gate guards.

"Here we go" she said to herself as she ran to the door at last.

People were running from all directions causing a bottleneck jam at the tunnel entrance. Abigail could now see Blue and Calla arguing with Eric as he tried to get them to go inside with the others. He even grabbed Calla by the wrist and attempted to force her to go but she pointed back to Abigail before breaking his grip. Calla and Blue hurried off to meet their companion, leaving the frustrated Eric waiting with his hands on his hips.

"Good job waiting till the last second" Calla whispered loudly into Abigail's ear.

The siren continued to sound as the crowd near the entrance began to thin out.

"Don't worry, we're coming!" Blue called out to Eric "Go on, we'll see you inside."

Shaking his head in a further sign of his frustration with his young charges, Eric turned and made his way inside. As he walked along near the back of the crowd, something started to bother him. He tried to put his finger on exactly what it was, but he just wasn't sure. Of course Blue and Calla would worry about the missing member of their crew, but there was something more; something odd about their behaviour. Partway down the tunnel he decided stop and wait for them. So he stepped back into the shadows against the tunnel wall being sure to keep silent.

Even though the tunnel lighting was dim, Eric could still identify each person who hurried past him on their way to safety and to his horror, Blue, Abigail and Calla were not among them. When the men who had been checking the list of names at the tunnel entrance passed by, he stepped out of the shadows and called out.

"HEY! What happened to the new kids?"

"They're in, we saw them go by" one of them called back.

"NO THEY'RE NOT" but the men didn't listen and kept running.

Eric started back towards the tunnel entrance, running headlong into two of the gate guards.

"Did you see the three newcomers?" he asked them.

"Yes they entered the tunnel ahead of us" they replied.

"No; I was waiting for them and they didn't pass by" Eric protested.

"You probably missed them in the crowd."

"Don't you see, they're trying to escape" Eric declared.

The two gate guards cursed at being tricked by these teenagers and headed back to the tunnel entrance once more, with Eric close behind.

It only took their eyes a few seconds to adjust to the outside light and when they did, one of the first things they saw were three figures running along the road outside of the compound wall. There was no time to go back for more help, so they grabbed some nearby digging tools left abandoned on the ground and ran after the escapees.

There was no doubting Abigail, Calla and Blue were all fit, and they paced themselves well so they could keep running without stopping to rest. Their pursuers though were more accustomed to the area as well as being much taller, so their longer legs enabled him to slowly reign the distance between them and his prey.

"There's someone behind us" Abigail noted after hearing the echo of footfalls.

"Already?" Calla gasped "Well... you know what to do."

"Right... good luck." Abigail replied.

Blue was just about to ask why his sister had wished them luck, when Calla grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him off the road.

"What? Where are we..." he started.

Calla put a finger to his lips and signalled for him to follow her quietly. They made their way swiftly but silently through the forest while behind them, the sound of their pursuers passed by on the road. As soon as he felt it was safe Blue quietly asked his question.

"What on Earth is going on?" he said bluntly.

"Don't worry, it's all part of the plan" Calla replied, not offering any more information.

"The hell it is" Blue declared as he stopped dead and shook his wrist away from Calla's grip.

"What are you doing? We have to get out of here" Calla protested.

"Without my sister? I don't think so" Blue stated adamantly.

"You don't understand; Abby and I planned this" Calla begged.

"Planned what?" Blue huffed.

"Planned our future rescue. Look Blue we may not like it, and personally I find it disgusting, but we all know Abby and I are what Gran and the others back there really want. They see us as part of their future genetic diversity."

"Yes... and that is why we have to all get out of here!" Blue argued.

"But don't you see, they'd never let us get away. They'd keep chasing us until they managed to run us down, and then we'd all be dragged back to the tunnel again."

"So... what are we doing; sacrificing my sister to give you and me a better chance?" Blue fumed.

"No! Abby will lead them off as long as she can but when they catch her, they will soon try and pick up our trail. When it looks like they're getting close to us, I'll do the same thing. I'll lead everyone off in another direction while you escape. I'm really good at evading people so you should have a good shot at getting away clear."

"Then what; I just leave you here? There's no way I'd..."

"You have to" Calla grabbed Blues shoulders and pleaded with him.

"I... I can't" he stated.

"For Abby and I to get out of here before we get forced into an arranger marriage, we are going to need help; lots of help. So we are relying on you to get back to Sumatra and metaphorically speaking, fetch the Marines."

The two of them just stared into each other's eyes for a moment. Blue could see the wisdom behind Calla's reasoning, but he had not prepared himself for the possibility of abandoning these two young women; both of whom he had very strong feelings for. Taking a deep breath, Blue closed his eyes as he plucked up the courage to agree to Calla's request but before he could, they were both knocked down by a massive, deafening shockwave.

Several smaller trees were blown to the ground while the tops of all the stronger pines shattered, raining debris all over the forest. Blue and Calla both raised their arms to guard their faces from the onslaught, barely escaping the larger branches falling around them.

"What the hell was that?" a confused Calla asked.

"The alarm... it wasn't a safety drill, there really was a meteorite" Blue responded "It must have exploded in the upper atmosphere."

He hurried to his feet and offered a hand to Calla.

"Come on" she said dragging Blue onwards when she was back on her feet.

On their way they reached what was once a nest of smaller trees, but had been turned into a clearing full of splintered wood. They made their way through the natural labyrinth by going around or climbing over the piles of timber. While on top of a particularly large log, the two suddenly became aware of a deep and distant rumbling.

"Look... over there!" Blue pointed back to the mountain they had come from.

The shockwave from the exploding meteorite had hit the mountain with the same force as it had hit Calla and Blue, dislodging many tonnes of rock, dirt and rubble which now plummeted down the mountain side in a massive wall of death.

"Oh my God... I hope they're all still deep inside the tunnel; anyone outside would be crushed" Blue gasped.

"I dare say the only ones outside, are the ones chasing us" Calla said.

"I certainly hope so" Blue nodded.

The pair ran on for another fifteen minutes before finally stopping to rest. They only took a short time to catch their breath before continuing; this time at more of a rapid walking pace. Blue could not see the sun through the thick clouds, and wondered how much daylight they had left. Finding their way I at night would be impossible if they failed to get back on the road.

"I wonder if they've caught Abby yet?" he wondered out loud.

"Probably" Calla said in a casual way Blue found a little disturbing.

"I'm not sure I can do this" he admitted "I'm still not used to the idea of leaving you two behind."

Calla stopped in her tracks and turned to face Blue. As he looked into her eyes, he expected to see annoyance and frustration but she instead appeared to be pleading with him.

"I'm putting a lot of trust in you and you need to know that you can trust me too; nothing will happen to Abby while I'm around" she said earnestly.

Her simple words steadied his heart. Blue realised Calla would do anything to protect his sister. But at the same time there was something else on his mind that bothered him, and he knew if he didn't say anything about it now, he would surely never have another chance.

"It's not just Abigail I'm worried about."

Much to Calla's surprise, Blue leaped forward throwing his arms around her and holding her tightly. Her body stiffened as she held her breath.

"For God's sake... make damn sure you take good care of yourself too" he told her "I just can't imagine my life without you in it."

Calla smiled to herself as she began to relax, slipping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his chest.

"We'll be safe enough here; you're the one who'll have to be careful" she replied.

Even though Calla knew they should continue on, she just couldn't bring herself to break away. All that changed though when the sound of barking dogs drifted into her ears.

"What the..." she gasped as she turned towards the noise "Have they got dogs? I didn't see any dogs! Do you know anything about dogs? Where the hell did They GET DOGS?"

"Oh crap!" Blue sighed "There's no way we could lose them now."

"Yes there is; this way" Calla replied, grabbing Blue's wrist.

She dragged the confused young man down the hill towards the river, desperately hoping that such an old trick would still work if executed correctly. The section of river they came across was not excessively deep but was only about ten meters wide, meaning the flow was quite rapid.

"GO!" Calla shouted, pointing to the far bank.

She tried to look stern and tough, but Blue could see her lower lip quiver and a tear appear in her left eye. There was no avoiding it; this was goodbye and they both knew it. Blue failed to move as he felt his feet anchor themselves to the ground, and he could not force them to budge no matter how hard he tried. In the end, Calla took charge again by reaching up to push him away.

"I said GO!" she repeated.

But Blue reached out as well. Grabbing Calla's wrists, he pulled her towards himself, leant down and kissed her firmly yet gently on the lips. Before she could react, he broke away and ran off into the water. Calla watched in stunned silence as Blue waded out into the deeper part of the river and began to swim. She continued to stare unmoving until had reached the shallows of the other side. He climbed the far bank and disappeared into the forest without ever looking back.

Only then did she take a deep breath and hurry off up the hill again. She knew the dogs would find her, but when they eventually did, she would be a long way from that place.

'

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**This was one of those rare chapters that stayed in one place. There was too much to get through here to put in other characters and situations. I must admit though, when I started planning this story, this bit was meant to be in chapter two or three. Guess I've gone back to my old ways of drawing things out (wink!)**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

There was nothing left to hold Calla back, and so she ran. She ran with absolute purpose and with only one goal in mind; to put as much distance as she could manage between herself and the river before she was caught. The climb back up the hill to the road had been very difficult. Her throat burned and her chest felt like was about to explode but she ran on regardless, driven more by her feelings than her strength. In the end the dogs would catch up to her, and their handlers would retake her as their prisoner before dragging her back to Gran's twisted idea of a future Earth; but until they did, she would run.

Driving herself onwards was also supposed to be a distraction for her. Considering what she would face in the weeks and months to come, the last thing Calla wanted to do was dwell on the boy she had just lost.

Back at the river, the two Gate Guards continued their pursuit. Much to the men's annoyance, the first place the dogs lead them to was the water's edge.

"Dammit; it's too cold to go in there" one of them complained.

"You wanna tell Gran we let the other girl get away because you didn't wanna get wet; do ya Stan?" the other admonished.

"No Oliver" Stan said as he stepped into the water.

While the men had been arguing, they had failed to notice the tracking dogs had left the river bank and were now sniffing around behind Oliver.

"Wait a minute; they've picked up the scent."

Not wanting to lose any time, Oliver grabbed the lead of Stanley's dog and allowed both animals to lead him back up the hill; thus leaving the other poor man behind to shake the freezing water from his boots while cursing, Blue, Calla, Abigail, the dogs, Oliver and all aspects of life in general. Naturally the dogs lead them all the way back to the road. But instead of following the easy path along the dirt track, the scent took the dogs into the deep forest on the other side.

"Damn these kids are smart" Oliver mumbled to himself.

He had no doubt in his mind about his dog's ability to find their quarry, but tracking through the dense, scented pine forest would be much slower than just following the road. As he made his way methodically through the wood, Stanley finally managed to catch up and retrieve his dog from Oliver. The pair continued on for another five kilometres before they received an obvious clue, telling them they were getting close.

"RUN BLUE, RUN! THEY'VE ALMOST GOT ME!" a girl's voice echoed in the trees.

The last thing Calla wanted was for her pursuers to realise Blue was not with her, and she hoped pretending to call out to him would throw them off.

A few minutes later, the two men found Calla half leaning on a fallen log, gasping for breath.

"Okay... I give up" she panted.

After handing his dogs lead to Stanley, Oliver went and grabbed Calla's left arm just below her shoulder, and dragged her to her feet.

"Which way did the boy go? TELL ME!" he demanded.

"If you want to marry me when I grow up, I suggest you ask nicely" Calla smirked.

Both men cursed, knowing full well she was just making fun of them.

'

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'

Abigail was mildly surprised with Eric. He normally wasn't the type to sit and sulk silently, but now he was clearly upset.

"I don't know why you're so cranky" she stated "after all, you caught me didn't you?"

Eric looked at the young girl with daggers in his eyes, but said nothing. Abigail let the awkward silence hang in the air a little longer before she spoke again.

"After all, you surely can't be surprised we tried to escape. When you consider..."

"YOU PUT ALL OUR LIVES AT RISK; WHAT KIND OF IDIOT TRIES TO FLEE WHEN THERE'S A METEOR ABOUT TO ENTER THE ATMOSPHERE?"

"Now now, settle down" Abigail begged, making Eric even angrier.

"Selfish little brat" he mumbled

"I mean seriously, how were we supposed to know it wasn't just a drill?"Abigail defended herself.

"Gran knew" Eric stated.

"Well she never told me. And what is her real name anyway? She's no more a grandmother than I am the Queen of Bulgaria."

Eric fell silent once again, continuing to stew in his anger until three figures appeared in the road ahead. He stood and looked down at Abigail with a smirk of satisfaction.

"Looks like we've caught another one" he said smugly.

"They caught another one" Abigail noted "You've just been sitting here on your butt feeling sorry for yourself."

Eric pretended not to hear the comment, even so something wasn't right. Why would Stanley and Oliver both bring the girl back?

"Shouldn't one of you be tracking down the boy?" he asked them when they arrived.

Oliver just shrugged while Calla smiled in a disturbing way.

"I don't know why but the dogs couldn't pick up the scent" Stanley said.

"I told you why" Calla offered.

"Oh shut up" Oliver barked "He did not turn into a dragon and fly away."

"Blue's half magic on his mother's side; didn't you know that?" Calla smirked at her own joke.

'Dragons' Calla thought to herself; wouldn't it be good to have a few mythical creatures like those on her side.

"So what do we do now?" Eric asked.

"We go back" Oliver declared "It'll be dark in less than an hour so we'd better get these two locked up for the night. If Gran gives the order, in the morning we'll go to the place where we first caught them. The kid may be trying to find the old guy in the weird machine."

"His name is DeGroot" Calla noted "and he's not that old."

"To be fair though, he does look old" Abigail nodded.

"Hmm, s'pose" Calla shrugged.

Calla had spent a lot of her time zigzagging through the forest. So now they were all back on the road, it only took them a little over half an hour to get back to the compound surrounding the tunnel entrance; but what they found there was not what they had left. From a distance the landslide had looked dangerous; up close they all saw it was devastating. Falling rocks had destroyed two buildings and damaged most others, as well as the wall across the canyon. Calla and Abigail would certainly not be spending the night locked in their room, for the tunnel entrance was now completely buried under massive pyramid of dirt, rock and fallen trees.

"Oh... my... God!" Calla gasped.

A terrible gloom hung in the air as the group slowly stepped forward and examined the pile. None of them felt able to talk as they took in the scene of devastation rising up before them. Oliver sank to his knees, unable to stand and unable to fathom the unbelievable sight he faced. The work of his past now lay in ruins, along with his planned future.

"I suppose... you may as well go then. See if you can find your friend" he said in a very weak voice.

"Go; what do you mean?" Calla wondered.

"Go as in leave! Go to wherever the boy is headed. Isn't that what you wanted?" Oliver said tersely.

"Actually it's about time we all got to work I'd say" Calla replied.

"Wha... what are you talking about?" Eric looked at the young girl as if she had just suggested he eat his own face.

"What do you think I'm talking about? We've got to get everyone out of there" she gestured to the tons of rubble concealing the tunnel entrance. "Sure we want to leave, but we're not just gonna abandon all those people."

"DON'T BE STUPID!" Stanley barked "they're... dead...they're all... dead."

"I highly doubt that" Abigail said in a matter-of-fact manner.

Stanley threw his arms in the air and stomped around if a half circle.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? NO ONE COULD SURVIVE BEING BURIED UNDER ALL THAT!" he gestured violently to the place where the tunnel once was.

"On the contrary; the tunnel was hewn from some very solid rock strata and wherever there were cracks or fissures, proper bracing had been installed" Abigail informed them.

"Oh really?" Oliver hissed as he got to his feet again "And what make you such an expert about all this? Are you some kind of geology professor or something?"

His words cut deep, and he found out just how deep when Abigail picked up a fist sized rock and hurled it at the angry man.

"I STUDIED UNDER A VERY BRILLIANT PROFESSOR!" she snapped "at least... I did till he was murdered."

"You should listen to her" Calla interrupted "I felt really nervous about that tunnel when we first arrived here, but Blue and Abby made me feel better about it by explaining about how well built it was, no matter how rough it looked. They told me about the rock structure and how it was made to withstand the constant vibrations from several freight trains per day back when it was first constructed."

"And how did you know they weren't just making it all up?" Stanley sneered.

"My brother and I had both spent our entire lives living underground; me on Mars and he in Sumatra. And when you live in a subterranean community, geology and tunnel construction are very important school subjects."

The three men looked to each other. They all wanted the hope Abigail offered, but found it hard to accept from a pretty little fourteen year old girl.

"We... we should try I suppose" Eric said, coming around somewhat.

"Good" Abigail rubbed her hands "We're gonna need wheelbarrows, spades, pickaxes... um... and some gloves would be good. Do you have any explosives?"

'

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'

Blue shivered as he made his way through the forest. He had managed to find a wide shallow section of the river a few kilometres downstream and had crossed back so he could try to find road gain. Nevertheless his clothes were still soaked from his earlier dunking, and he felt sure he was truly living up to his name.

The clouds continued to block the sun; so as it set in the early evening, finding his way became more and more difficult. Soon he could only continue slowly with his arms outstretched and waving back and forth. He was constantly stumbling and tripped several times until a few hours later, Blue finally fell onto the road he sought. To his left, the way back to the compound and the tunnel but to his right, well he could not really be sure.

Blue soon learnt that walking on the left side of the road was the most advantageous, for he could feel when the ground started to rise up beneath his feet while on the right side, he would occasionally step off the side and fall back into the forest. He walked on for the next several hours, still unable to see and unsure if he was even walking the right way. Sometime after midnight, exhaustion finally overcame Blue and he lay down on the verge of the road and lost consciousness.

And of course there were no pleasant dreams that night.

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'

Compared to the last place the dragon had stayed, this island was a vast improvement. The heat from the volcano made it a cosy place to rest, and the abundant schools of fish in the nearby bay only added to the level of comfort. Deep down inside, the dragon knew this was not the place he wanted to be, but right now he found it very easy to put aside all thought of moving on.

Now was the time to simply relax and gain a little weight.

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**Hello everyone**

**One of the best things about writing this story is it keeps me from overdoing it on computer games. It hasn't stopped me from watching all 5 seasons of Steven Universe for the fourth time. I am looking forward to seeing the movie soon.**

**Thanks Vin for your little notes in the review section, and thanks again to all those reading. Back in a few weeks, Marty.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Work began early in the compound the next morning. Calla and Abigail had spent the night in an undamaged shack that had previously served as an infirmary amongst the outside workshops. The only food available to them were a few raw vegetables from the greenhouse, so after a very unsatisfying breakfast, Calla came up with an idea.

"We all know that moving all that rock and rubble could take a week or more, and I for one can't do it without proper food. I'm a growing girl and I need my protein" she said to Eric

"What do you expect me to do about it?" the man complained.

Calla smiled in way Eric did not like.

"Well I thought you were in charge; but since you're not..." Calla turned her back to Eric in a show of defiance and directed her next question elsewhere.

"Hey Abby, you seemed to pick up the nuances of fishing a few days ago. Do you think you could head down to the river and try and catch a few for us?"

"Sure thing" Abigail smiled and nodded. Just the thought of a pan fried supplement to the vegetables they had just consumed made her mouth water.

"Wait a minute" Oliver objected "Are you really gonna let her go off by herself? What if she tries to escape again?"

"Hey... you were going to let us both go yesterday" Abigail pointed out "and as long as there is still hope we may find someone alive under all that rock and dirt, I'm not going anywhere."

"She's got a point there" Stanley noted.

"Alright then... but the other one stays here" Oliver conceded.

"My name is Calla, not the other one" Calla objected.

'

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'

The toe of his shoe hit a rock on the side of the road causing Blue to stumble, but he caught his footing in time and managed to avoid falling. A light dusting of snow had fallen earlier in the morning and though it was barely enough to sparsely cover the ground, it still made Blue's feet feel numb. His stomach growled begging for food that wouldn't come, causing his mind to wander.

He began to reminisce about the first time he had set eyes on Calla, when she had fallen out of a ventilation shaft and knocked him to the ground. After a short period of unconsciousness, he had awoken to find this angry frightened girl threatening to stab him in the neck with a shielded electrician's flat bladed screwdriver.

In the months that followed their first meeting, Blue had experienced almost the entire range of negative emotions from this extremely complex person. There was the competitive jealousy, some violence, more anger than he could handle, and quite a lot of selfishness.

Calla had come into his life in an unexpected manor but then just as suddenly, she became a person who was friendly, attentive and more eager to learn. Blue suspected Doctor Sarah Spencer may have had a lot to do with this change in Calla's attitude although he had no way of knowing for sure.

From that time forward, Calla had become someone in whom he could trust and rely on in any circumstance; even choosing to risk her own life to help Blue with the rescue of his father and sister when they had become trapped in Earth orbit. Maybe that was why he had found it so difficult to accept Calla's plan for him to escape alone. She had been constantly by his side after leaving the Earth; affecting the rescue in space, travelling to Mars orbit to pick up the rest of his family, continuing on to the Asteroid Belt, beginning construction of a future colony, returning home to Earth, and finally travelling across the North American continent on their way home to Sumatra.

In his mind, he could see uncountable images of Calla, from the first look of terror as she burst out of one of the pressure release vents, through to her recent heart breaking plea for him to escape alone and leave her behind.

He knew she was his best friend, and he knew he could trust her. He knew he had very strong feelings for her, but now he starting to wonder if he really could be in love with her. The shock of the errant thought made him stumble and fall. As he got back onto his feet, he began ask himself another question; considering the distain she used to feel, could she ever really love him?

He decided he should take the opportunity to explore his feelings but as was usual for Blue, he instantly began by taking the intellectual route. He asked himself what he knew about love based on the studies he had done while growing up. He thought about it through the eyes of literature, religion, philosophy, personal relationships, and any other side angle he could think of. In the end he came to the partial conclusion that to love someone was to put that person, along with their own needs and desires, well ahead your own. Using this thought as a guide, Blue thought about how callous and selfish Calla had been those first few weeks he had known her. He went on to consider how she acted later, even to the point of putting her own life in danger to help Blue. Conclusion; high favourable.

They had been friends for almost a year and had been through so much together. Of course he had many friends, as well as his newly found Martian family, and he felt a certain attractive force to be with each of them. But when it came to Calla, he had to admit to himself that the attractive force was strong with this one.

For month after month, she had been a normal part of his everyday life. Even when he had moved out of the Railgun Complex and taken a room in the giant tanker, she was never really far away. So after all they had been through together, and considering the strong bond he had with her, Blue suddenly realised he could not deny it anymore; he was head over heels.

Maybe it had been selfish of him, not wanting to escape, leaving Calla and Abigail behind. True he may have been showing loyalty to the girls by not abandoning them, but they had put their trust in him to do what needed to be done. Not only did they want him to escape, they needed him to escape. If they ever wanted to get away themselves, they knew they would need a lot of help as they were greatly outnumbered.

Another rumble from the gut brought Blue crashing back to reality. No matter how hungry he was, not matter how cold or tired, he had to push on. He had to find DeGroot and the Bull Ant; and he wanted to find them before night time eventually rolled around again. Psychoanalysing his feelings about Calla had helped take his mind off the cold and his growing hunger, but nothing could protect him from reality.

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'

Back at the compound, work continued through the day. Digging dirt, filling wheelbarrows, using long crowbars to lever rocks out of the way; it all soon became nothing more than a boring repetitious chore with no end in sight. Abigail did succeed in bringing back a good supply of fish, half of which were cleaned, cooked and consumed at lunch time. Calla suggested that since they were all working so hard, and would need to keep doing so for many days to come, that each person in the group should take turns to have a break from digging to go and procure food for the rest.

And so when they had finished eating, Stanley took a hunting bow and some snare traps out into the forest while the others resumed digging. He returned late afternoon carrying a rabbit and two large quail and was about to start preparing his catch for dinner, when an excited call came out from the tunnel dig site. Hurrying over, Stanley found Eric holding the end of a light gauge pair of shielded wires.

"Don't you know what this is?" he was asking the others.

"Wires?" Calla stated the obvious.

"Yes; this was connected to an old telephone system; its core is an exchange in the main cross tunnel" Eric explained "If we hook up one of the outer handsets, we might be able to make contact. If there is anyone alive in there, we could let them know help is on the way."

This revelation started a flurry of activity as Eric hurried off to fetch one of these old handsets, while the other four carefully dug around the wire to expose more while being careful not to break it. Eric soon returned with some tools and a very old Bakelite telephone that bore no buttons or dial, but instead had a small crank handle in its centre. He worked swiftly, using a sharp knife to expose the ends of the wire before connecting the ends to the back of the phone.

"Right then... here we go" he said as he started to turn the crank.

Inside the phone case, a small dynamo generator sent an electric current down the wire. If there was another phone still connected at the other end, it would merrily be ringing aloud for anyone nearby to hear. After turning the handle six times, Eric stopped, picked up the handset and listened carefully.

"Hello?" he said hopefully.

Everyone held their breath as they awaited some kind of response, but nothing was forthcoming. The group let out a collective sigh as Eric replaced the handset and resumed turning the handle. He turned it at least a dozen times before he put the handset back to his ear, but once again there was no reply to their call.

"Maybe there is nobody near the other phone" Abigail offered an alternative to the horrid thought that there may be no one alive to respond.

"No... no they would hear it... but it is highly likely that the wire has another break in it from the avalanche; probably more than one" Eric offered some hope.

"Then we keep digging... and do our best not to pull on the wire or damage it in any way" Calla stated.

"Yes!" Abigail said in support of the idea and they all resumed work.

'

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'

As night fell, Blue continued to stumble down the road heading east. There had been no sun throughout the entire day so his clothes were still quite damp; he was cold and only getting colder. He kept his hands in fists and under his arms in a desperate attempt to keep them warm and avoid losing any fingers to frostbite.

A vale of darkness soon fell over the forest making it even more difficult for Blue to keep his bearings and stay on the road. Driving further and further on eventually proved to be his undoing as Blue tripped on something he could not identify and fell off to the side of the road.

"No... can't stay here" he told himself.

As he tried to lift his body off the ground, Blues head started to spin and he fell back onto his side unconscious. It was then that the dream began. He dreamt of all the places where he had previously slept in comfort but each time he reached one, there was someone else sleeping in his bed, and each one of them would prod him with a sharp stick to drive him away.

Eventually he awoke only to find where he had lay down, there was a very badly positioned rock under him causing the side pain. He shivered as he rubbed his head, wondering just how long he had been unconscious, when he suddenly realised he could not remember which direction he had been walking. In the dark both directions looked the same and he certainly did not want to go back the way he had come.

He continued to will himself onwards through the pain knowing it was only a matter of time before he either found the shelter he desperately needed, or fell once more onto the road. After fifteen minutes of stumbling, the clouds actually parted for a short time revealing a Half Moon hanging low in the sky.

"Dammit!" Blue cursed realising he was walking the wrong way.

A few hours later he had tried shallow breathing so he would not take in too much of the freezing air about him, but that had only made him dizzy again, giving him visions of tiny points of light dancing before his eyes. He began to breath normally again but oxygen deprivation still appeared to be taking hold as he saw a bright red light flash in front of him. To his surprise, Blue felt a little disappointment when the light faded away because there was something warm and friendly about the illusion.

A few minutes later he thought he saw it again, but not in his line of sight as it was last time; this flash came from a few degrees right. If it was the same light, then Blue must not be walking straight. Continuing on, he did his best to keep his head facing the last place he had seen the light and sure enough, two minutes later if flashed again.

"ah..." Blue gasped weakly as he tried to walk faster.

Every two minutes the light seemed a little brighter, a little larger and a little closer, raising the young man's spirits. Although at the same time, he had decided that if it were only his imagination, he would simply give up, lay down and let death take him. Once again he stumbled but this time he fell, hitting the ground hard. He looked up and saw the flash at the top of his field of vision, finally convincing him of its authenticity.

Clambering to his feet, Blue tried to run and failed as he only succeeded in stumbling a little quicker along the road. Eventually he saw what looked like a huge black rectangular block rising up before him and he knew he had finally found the help he so desperately needed; so he picked up a small rock and threw it against the side of the machine.

"Who... who's out there?" a frightened voice called out from inside "I'm warning you... I've got a gun!"

"No you don't, lower the steps" Blue ordered.

Unable to go any further, Blue fell to the ground. Deep in his soul, the desperation that had driven him on finally subsided as the knowledge of his success sunk in and with the driving force gone, his body finally gave up.

"Oh my God... it's you... at last" Maximilian DeGroot declared as the light from the Bull Ant steps shone down on the unmoving figure.

DeGroot hurried down the steps and lifted the exhausted young man to his feet. Putting his arm around Blue's shoulder, DeGroot helped him back inside the giant mobile home.

"It's been over a month, I thought you'd never get here" he confessed "My goodness, you're wet."

"Well spotted Sherlock" Blue gasped "Aren't you going to ask about the girls?"

"Oh I knew they wouldn't be with you; we have to get help so we can rescue them."

"What the... how the hell did you know that?" Blue gasped as DeGroot put a blanket over his shoulders.

"Never mind that for now, you go get into some dry clothes. Get something to eat from the stores and then try to get some rest. I'll get the Bull Ant started and head east; I'll tell you more in the morning."

Blues curiosity was strong, but unfortunately every other part of him was weak after his ordeal. It was much warmer inside the Bull Ant but the young man was still half frozen and extremely tired, so he did as he was told by collapsing on a nearby sofa.

'

* * *

'

The half Moon shone brightly over the volcanic island. The cloudless sky enabled the small dragon to look over the southern shoreline as he sat on the rim of the smouldering mountain. This big open outside world was more to his liking than the world below the fissure he had emerged from a month ago and although his instincts told him this was a very important place for a dragon, it still wasn't quite where he wanted to be.

Nevertheless the dragon felt like this was his place; his own convenient personal island and he would stay for a short time to explore the area. This had already proven to be a very big world, and he wanted to be sure he knew each part well before moving on.

'

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'

**It may be true that Australia is a very warm place, but at this time of year it can be very cold. Where I live we rarely have any snow but yesterday was one of those rare occasions. Not down here in the city, only a light dusting on the top of Mount Lofty (it may technically be a mountain, but it's more like a very big hill.)**

**One of the side effects of this cold weather (12c/54f) is me wanting to stay inside on the weekends; result over use of air conditioner and lots of writing being done (even though the Boo the cat is running around the house as if her tail was on fire.)**

**Vin: according to Cartoon Network, the Steven Universe Movie will go to air on the 2****nd**** of September (springtime in Australia and one of my favorite songs by Earth Wind and Fire)**

**Speaking of which, I highly recommend a Daft Punk mash up of the song I found on YouTube; **

**/m548DsoGPsQ**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi everyone :)**

**I have some good news. Act 1 of this story is done (20 chapters in total) so I'll be posting more often for a while. **

Chapter 10

From the outside Blue appeared to be finally at rest, but the reality was quite different. After his long trek he was so overtired, sleep simply eluded him; his mind ached while also being filled with swirling illusion. Various dreams came and went, mixing into a heart pounding mental cacophony. After a few hours of this disturbed rest, his eyes shot open. His breathing was shallow and erratic as if he had just suffered a terrific nightmare, but his addled brain was totally empty and he was unable to remember where he was and how he had gotten there.

Blue sat up and look about, taking in the familiar interior of the Bull Ant. A deep veil of depression fell over the young man as he realised the true nightmare he faced. Calla and Abigail were still gone and he faced an unbearable future of unknowing their fate.

After taking a small amount of food and water, Blue raided the now empty rooms of his sister and his friend. Having borrowed several blankets, he retreated to his own room and buried himself under a considerable pile of stolen bedding before finally slipping into a state of temporary hibernation. The low rumbling of the Bull Ant's electric motors, along with the movement of the vehicle were nowhere near enough to keep the exhausted young man awake any longer and he slept for the rest of the night and most of the next day as well.

When he finally awoke the next evening, Blue was sorry to discover that his two days in the wild, and wearing damp clothes, did have some horrid consequences. He was very fortunate not to have a chronic case of pneumonia, but he did now suffer from a not so mild case of flu. With no medical attention to speak of, Blue had no choice but to rest when he could, eat when he should, and drink whatever he could manage; all the while DeGroot kept guiding the Bull Ant on to the east; whenever the batteries held enough charge for him to do so.

'

* * *

'

Days of work digging at the tunnel entrance were starting to take their toll on the five workers. They had found two more breaks in the phone line but still had not managed to make contact with those trapped inside. And now a large boulder was causing more trouble.

"We're just going to have to dig around it" Oliver insisted.

"Are you kidding?" Calla argued "We've been going straight for so long, if we start digging out the side wall, it would be the virtually equivalent of starting over from scratch."

"Yes I know you want to blow it up, but that's just too dangerous. We may end up causing another rock fall, and on top of that we'd totally destroy the phone wire" Oliver retaliated.

Calla stamped her foot in frustration.

"Listen; we drill into the rock first, and then use only a small charge. I only want to crack the, not send it to the Moon."

"What about the phone wire?" Oliver sneered.

"What about it? We're bound to find the end of it again and besides, we may have all the time in the world, but the people in the tunnel are on a really tight schedule; assuming they are still alive."

"She's got a point" Stanley agreed.

Unable to argue anymore, Oliver picked up a heavy hammer and cold chisel, and started to drill into the rock. In less than ten minutes the group had moved on to using a seven foot crowbar. It took till late in the afternoon but eventually, they managed to get a hole close to the centre, ready to take an explosive charge.

"So how does it work?" Calla asked as Eric pondered the equipment he had taken from the storage shed on the far side of the compound.

"I must admit I'm not totally sure; I'm not part of the blasting team" he admitted. "As far as I know we attach this detonator to the main charge and place it in the hole. Then we run the attached wire out to a safe distance, connect the end to the dynamo, turn the handle and... boom... I hope."

"Dynamo... like on the phone?" Abigail asked.

"Yup; it's just something to create an electric charge; but this time instead of making a bell ring..."

"Make rock go boom" Calla said in her best cave man voice.

"In a nut shell... yeah" Eric nodded.

Everyone took cover by sitting behind the nearest building while Eric carefully placed the charge. Even though the explosive was stable until the detonator core was activated, he was still very nervous. Moving slowly backwards he un-spooled the long wire until he finally reached the others. It only took a minute to connect the terminals and they were all set to go.

"Ready?" Eric asked as he placed his hand on the dynamo handle.

"WAIT! Aren't you supposed to shout something to warn anyone in the area?" Abigail wondered.

"But we're all here!" Oliver stated.

"If it will make you feel better" Eric sighed "LOOK OUT! WE'RE ABOUT TO BLOW UP A ROCK!"

With that said, everyone put their fingers in their ears as Eric turned the handle. There was no doubt at all; it had worked. To say there was loud noise would be a gross understatement and they all wished they had moved much further back. First there were the rocks; both large and small flew over the town, except for the ones that flew through the town. Everybody held their heads down as rocks punched straight through the wooden building, some missing them by only a few millimetres. Next came the dust cloud, moving much slower over head before settling down and turning the entire area a light dirty yellowish brown.

"Woah!' Abigail gasped "That was close."

"I thought that was a small charge!" Oliver snapped.

"So did I" Eric shrugged.

"What made you think it was a small one?" Calla wondered.

"Well... it was bright yellow" Eric admitted.

Calla pondered his words for a second before coming to a conclusion.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" she stated.

"Unfortunately, neither does Eric" Stanley smirked.

"Well you see... I couldn't understand any of the technical terms on the side of each charge so I figured the darker the colour, the stronger the charge would be and there were red, orange and... um... yellow ones."

"Here's hoping we don't have to try another round of Explosives Bingo" Calla decided "Let's go see how it went."

"Err... before we do, I appear to be bleeding" Oliver noted, holding up a very red left arm."

As a senior student on Mars and genuine Space Cadet, Abigail Dias had received quite a lot of emergency first aid training and so she naturally went straight into action.

"Looks like you've got a very nasty splinter of wood just below your shoulder" she said.

"That's not a splinter, that's a tree!" Calla gasped at the size of the wood.

"Can you stand up?" Abigail asked.

"I think so" Oliver replied.

While Abigail led the injured man off to the same infirmary where she and Calla had been sleeping, the other three went to inspect the aftermath of the explosion and were quite pleased with what they found. They had expected to split the boulder in several places, making it a simple task to remove the smaller pieces with pickaxe and crowbar. But instead they found the large rock completely gone, along with about half a ton of the dirt behind it. This new section of dirt wall soon caught everyones attention because protruding from it, about two meters up from the ground, were two shielded wires.

"Is that the phone line?" Calla asked.

"Sure is" Eric nodded "May as well hook up the handset and try again I suppose."

While he went to fetch the old telephone, Calla and Stanley dug around the wire, filling one of the wheelbarrows. By the time Eric had returned, he had another meter of line to play with making the connection process much easier. With the ends of the wires cleaned and screwed into place, Eric made yet another attempt at contact. He turned the crank handle a few times, picked up the handset and placed it to his ear, just as he had done several times before.

"Anything?" Calla asked after half a minute.

"No nothing" Eric replied.

Once again he replaced the handset and tried again while not far away, Oliver had to admit he was impressed.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed" he said as Abigail stitched up a rather deep flesh wound on the man's left shoulder.

"Thank you" she smiled "Considering this is the first time I've done this on a real person, it's going pretty well I think. In first aid training we only had simulation limbs made of a kind of vinyl plastic."

"I'm just glad I don't have to watch" Oliver admitted "It's bad enough just knowing what you're doing."

"It certainly was quite a big chunk of wood that hit you" Abigail declared.

"Yeah... I guess we're lucky this was the only injury" Oliver noted.

"You're lucky it got your arm and didn't go through the back of your head."

The man went silent for a short time while Abigail continued her work but after a few minutes, he managed to gather up enough courage to tell her what was on his mind.

"You know... it's not just your first aid skills I find impressive" he began.

"You like the way I cook fish too?" Abigail smiled.

"Well... yeah, but I also like the way you girls decided to hang around after the rock fall. Me and the guys were ready to give up but what you said about rock structure and stuff, it uh... gave us... hope."

"I could be wrong you realise" Abigail stated bluntly "but I just couldn't leave without trying. If there is anyone alive in there, they'll need us."

"Yeah... that's right" Oliver took a deep breath "Listen... I know that by the time you turn eighteen I'll be almost thirty, but I was wondering..."

"You can stop wondering right now" Abigail interrupted as she picked up the scissors to snip the last thread.

"I can tell you now, there is no way I would even contemplate making any important decisions about my future right now, but I will tell you this; if by some chance I am still here in three and a half years and you ask me this again, I promise not to laugh at you" Abigail stated.

Replacing the scissors, she started to clean around the wound and wrap it with gauze.

"I err... I suppose that's reasonable" Oliver nodded.

"But won't say yes either and I can't guarantee I won't hit you" she admitted.

"Oh... I thought your friend was the violent one" Oliver pondered.

"She is" Abigail noted "but she's a good teacher and I'm a fast learner."

With her job done and everything put away, Abigail was about to suggest they return to the tunnel excavation site when a very excited Calla burst through the door.

"THEY'RE ALIVE!" she shouted.

"What... who?" Oliver asked somewhat stunned.

"Who do you think" Calla grinned "EVERYBODY!"

"Really?" Abigail gasped "How do you know?"

"We got the phone to work" Calla replied, jumping up and down with excitement.

"And they're ALL alive, everyone?" Oliver asked.

"Yes; isn't that wonderful?" Calla's smile grew wider.

"Well come on then" Oliver jumped off the table he sat on "We gotta get back to work."

Running across the compound after not bothering to close the infirmary door behind them, the three soon made it back to the tunnel work site. But instead of finding Eric and Stanley joyfully working with new found impetus, they found the two men looking very forlorn.

"Why are you two looking so down?" Oliver asked "Is anything wrong?"

Eric and Stanley looked to each other before Eric started to speak.

"They told us everyone was alright... and then they asked... if all seven of us survived the shockwave."

"Seven? But there were only six of us; five now that Blue is gone" Abigail noted.

"It seems that... Nancy noticed I wasn't in the main assembly area" Eric continued "She came out to check and see if everything was okay... and... they never saw her again."

Calla felt Abigails hand slip into hers and squeeze it tightly. Being one of the first people they had met upon being captured, the girls had gotten to know Nancy very well and had come to rely on her help. If she had disappeared, there was very little doubt about what had happened to her, but none of them wanted to accept it.

"Wh... where is she then?" Calla asked, still not wanting to consider the answer.

"Somewhere under all that I assume" Eric callously gestured to the huge pile of dirt and rock.

Abigail closed her eyes and started to take very short breaths.

"See what you've done?" Stanley hissed "Do you See WHAT YOU'VE DONE?"

Abigail and Calla took a step back as the tall man advanced on them.

"If you hadn't tried to escape, Nancy would still be alive!" he sneered.

Oliver tried to stop his friend, but his wounded arm made the task very difficult until Eric joined in.

"If we hadn't tried to escape, we'd all be stuck inside the tunnel" Calla argued.

"BUT WE'D BE ALIVE... ALL OF US! And they're digging out from the inside so... we would have been okay."

"Don't be ridiculous" Oliver told Stanley "If we were inside the tunnel, all of this rubble would not have been moved already; who's to say we would have made it out in time?"

"Yes and clearing all this away from the outside was hard, but it would have far more difficult to dig ourselves out from underneath it all" Eric agreed.

Stanley grunted loudly, turned away and stormed off a short distance away, purposely kicking a rock in the process and hurting his foot. He tried his best not to cry out or limp, hoping no one would notice what he had done. They did, but nobody said anything.

"Calla... could we really be responsible for Nancy's death?" Abigail wondered.

Calla grabbed her friend's shoulders and looked firmly into her eyes.

"While we can be blamed for trying to escape, Gran can be blamed for bringing us here in the first place, DeGroot can be blamed for insisting we travel this far north, the people who tried to shoot us down during re-entry can be blamed for setting us off on this journey in the first place and so on, and so on, and so on. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Yes..." Abigail managed a slight smile "sometimes things just... happen."

"You got it" Calla nodded "Life is just a chain of events. We try to do what seems right at the time, but who's to know what is a good decision, and what is a bad one until it all unfolds."

Abigail looked over at the man sitting on a rock, rubbing his foot.

"Somehow I don't think Stanley would see it that way" she noted correctly.

'

* * *

'

With a loud splash, the small dragon plunged back into the bay to fetch its breakfast. Today was a very different day on the volcanic island because of a thick sea fog, hovering only a short distance from the shore. Having succeeded in procuring something fresh and tasty, the dragon sat down on the rocky beach and began to devour his catch until something other than fish began to fill his senses.

He couldn't see, hear or smell it but he knew it was out there. Each one of the thin spinal plates running down the dragon's back and tail, tapered to point finer than a strand of hair and acted like the whiskers of a cat. Each one of them could feel the presence of regular changes in the way the air was moving, and it could only be caused by the beating of very large wings. Considering the nesting season was still several months away, the only other reason another dragon would come to this island would be to feed; the same reason the small dragon was there.

Not wanting to get involved in a territorial fight with something many times his size, the small dragon abandoned his partially eaten meal and took to the sky. There would be other islands, and there would be other fish.

'

* * *

'

**Been a week now since the Steven Universe Movie hit my TV screen and I am still loving the music. I wish though that Rebecca Sugar would cut it up into 5 minute segments and then extend each bit into a 15 minute episode. There really is enough there for a whole season of shows.**

**The writing of Act 2 is coming along nicely but I may have to take a break next month to write this year's Snoggletog short story.**

**Bye for now :) **


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Everything seemed to change that afternoon. The tense excitement of the explosion, the delight of finding out there were people still alive in the tunnel, and then hearing about the loss of Nancy left everyone feeling drained. Not much was said amongst the small group as they continued to work with hand tools and wheel barrows, until the telephone rang out with its deceptively cheerful bells. Making the most of the opportunity for a short break, they all downed tools as Eric walked over to the handset.

"Hello... oh yes ... ...yes of course... uh not exactly... we did... but you see... well at first we thought you were all dead... ... we were going to let them go... Yes we were going to leave as well but... ... ... if you could just... ... listen, it was the girl, Abigail... ... yes that's what I'm trying to tell you... ... ... No they offered to stay and help so... ... ... oh come on, you can't be serious... ... ... yes... yes... okay... if you say so" Eric sighed and hung up.

"Well that sounded like a fun conversation" Calla smirked.

"It was Gran" Eric looked down "and she's not happy."

"What else is new?" Calla shrugged

"Yeah well, spending days trapped underground can make a person quite grumpy" Abigail noted.

The thought of holding some kind of power over this overbearing woman was certainly appealing to both the girls, but hope for any appreciation soon took a nose dive.

"She's upset we let the boy get away and wants to make sure neither of the other two, manages to do the same" Eric continued.

"Look, I may not like good ol' grumpy Gran, but I'm not gonna leave everyone else stuck under..."

"She wants you chained up!"

"...what?" Calla gave Eric a look that could make milk turn sour.

"She can't be serious; how can we help dig them out if were chained up?" Abigail noted.

"Each night, when you go to bed, we've been ordered to shackle your ankles to the bed" Eric admitted.

"But we're not going to, are we?" Oliver asked sternly.

"What? You intend to disobey an order from Gran" Stanley growled.

"She doesn't know what it's been like out here. These girls have been helping us; you can't start treating them like animals" Oliver insisted.

"I must admit, I don't feel comfortable about this either" Eric nodded.

"I suppose there's no point in taking a vote about it then" Stanley said in a huff.

A pall of silence fell over the group until Abigail picked up a spade and started once more to load up one of the wheelbarrows. One by one, the rest joined her and they toiled on without speaking a word to each other. Later that evening as they sat down to dinner, little was said apart from the odd pleasantry when food was passed from hand to hand. Eventually, Calla decided to say what was on her mind.

"Things don't look good for us" she blurted out.

"What are you talking about?" Stanley sneered.

"You know exactly what she means" Oliver admitted "When the tunnel entrance is cleared and Gran gets out, Calla and Abigail really are going to become our prisoners. Any pretence of giving them a free life here is dead."

"You don't know that!" Eric objected "Given time..."

"That's a load of crap and you do know it" Oliver snapped "Gran will never trust them again and she won't let them go either. Put that together and it all adds up to prisoners... like it or not."

"Well I for one don't like it" Abigail admitted "Maybe we should have made a run for it when we had the chance."

"And could you have lived with yourself, knowing you had left all those people to die?" Calla noted.

"Of course not... that's why we didn't go" Abigail sighed.

"You know... you could let us go now" Calla said to Eric "You were going to before and..."

"WE ARE NOT LETTING YOU GO!" Stanley barked.

"No... I suppose you are too scared of Gran" Calla shrugged.

"THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT" Stanley growled and threw his empty tin dinner plate on the ground.

"Alright, alright; no need to go nuts" Oliver protested.

"I still believe in this place; and if we are going to survive here, we can't just sink down into anarchy!" Stanley continued "If we're going to create something viable, we can't let everyone make up their own rules."

"You can't let it turn into a dictatorship either" Calla interjected.

"Order does not equal a dictatorship!" Stanley argued.

"It does when your so called rules allow you to kidnap people and hold them against their will" Calla hissed.

"Are you going back to that old argument? Look, you're just children; we saved you from a dangerous situation and brought you somewhere safer."

"And I suppose that justification helps you live with yourself" Abigail sneered.

"YES IT DOES! Eh what would you know, you're just a kid" Stanley sneered back "Come on guys, back me up here."

"Oh you're on your own buddy" Eric stated "I believe in this place too but I'm not about to start making enemies."

"You are pathetic" Stanley shook his head "I've had enough of this; so if you two have finished eating, it's time to chain you up for the night."

Oliver slowly rose to his feet and stared menacingly at his friend.

"You are NOT going to chain them to their beds" he stated.

"Are you gonna try and stop me?"

"I have nailed the window shutters, and there is a lock on the door. You are NOT going to put shackles on them!" Oliver stated.

Stanley just stared back for a moment, taking careful note of the determined look on Oliver's face.

"Eh do what you want" he waved off "Gran's the one you have to answer to, not me. And don't think you'll be able to stand up to her when all the others are behind her. You're gonna regret this."

"I doubt that very much" Oliver snorted as he motioned for the girls to get going.

As they walked over to the infirmary, Abigail started to feel a little nervous.

"I um... that is to say... thanks for sticking up for us but..."

"But it doesn't change the way you feel; I know" Oliver said clearly "Don't worry about it."

"Okay... good."

Calla could not help but stare at her friend, but felt she should not say anything yet. However when they were shut in and the door was locked behind them, Abigail revealed everything about her earlier conversation with Oliver.

Meanwhile, far away on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, a much anticipated meeting was about to take place

'

* * *

'

Slowly and silently, the blue 12 meter long cruising yacht approached the eastern side of Keriri Island and dropped anchor some 300 meters from the beach. At the stern of the vessel, two crew members carefully lowered an inflatable tender into the water.

"Okay Emerson, you know what to do if things go pear shaped" Maynard Linwood reminded his son.

"Keep low, hit the red button and get the hell out of here; but hopefully it won't come to that" the young man replied.

"Keep your fingers crossed" Maynard nodded.

"I'll tell Peter you're ready" Emerson offered prematurely.

"No need, we're here" Harriet 'Doom' Ingerson called up from below deck.

Soon Maynard and Peter Moke were seated in the small tender and on their way to shore.

"I don't like this Doom" Emerson admitted as he slipped his hand into hers.

"I can understand why, but I think it'll be okay" she smiled warmly.

The long abandoned town of Port Kennedy drew nearer as the small electric motor propelled the boat towards the shore.

"I'm not sure if Doctor Spencer's plan to help Sage get to Mars is such a good idea" Maynard admitted "Are you sure she's not planning something else?"

"If she is, she hasn't told me about it" Peter replied.

"I guess after all she's done for me and my family since we arrive, I'd better give her the benefit of the doubt."

High up on the beach two men stood waiting for the vessel and those onboard, but they did not move an inch when it finally hit the beach. After pulling their boat high on the sand, the newcomers both took a deep breath and walked well and truly into the lion's den.

"Where's Doctor Spencer?" one of the men barked.

"She couldn't come because a close friend of hers has just had a baby; but I speak for her and the rest of the team" Peter said.

"And this guy?" the man asked.

"Captain Maynard Linwood" Peter introduced his friend "His fourteen year old daughter was one of the people on the shuttle you tried to shoot down."

"Oh... terribly sorry about that" the man said sarcastically "But when you have to prove a point, well... collateral damage and all that jazz. When you say I tried to shoot them down, I assume that means they made it back safely?"

"As far as we know" Peter admitted "We haven't managed to make proper contact with them yet."

"Well then, I guess I should introduce myself and my colleague. As you may have guessed, I am the one and only Neville Sage; and this angry looking human wall is Lex Morrison."

As they talked, Morrison raised a pair of binoculars to his face and stared out to sea.

"Yes I have heard many things about you Mister Sage" Peter continued.

"None of them good, I must assume" Sage grinned.

"No... none of them" Peter admitted the truth.

"Well I suppose we should get down to business" Sage already looked very self satisfied "You wish to give me the terms of your surrender?"

"Surrender?" Peter half gasped "No; the reason we wanted to talk with you, was to find out what you actually wanted from us."

"What I want is for Doctor Spencer and all her little friends to do whatever I tell them to do" Sage demanded.

"That's a little bit vague" Peter smirked "I mean... I assume you're not going to tell us to put on live production of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore."

"Don't be trite" Sage sneered "I want you to..."

"SIR!" Lex Morrison interrupted.

"Oh what is it?" Sage did not like being put off in this way.

"Their ship sir."

"What about it?" Sage queried.

"It's not the Brigantine they had before sir" Morrison handed over the binoculars.

Sage's face grimaced when he saw the dark blue cruising yacht bobbing in the water beyond the shallows.

"What the hell..."

Dropping the binoculars on the sand, Sage reached back and pulled a side arm from his belt. Without hesitation, Lex Morrison did likewise and as if that wasn't enough, Peter and Maynard could clearly hear the sound of weapons being readied from the low forest behind the beach. With hands half raised, both men hoped for the best, but expected the worst.

"Where's the ship with the big guns?" Sage growled.

"The One and All? It's err... it's not here" Peter replied.

"I can see it's not here but that's not what I asked; I said WHERE IS IT?"

Peter shot Maynard a nervous glance before answering.

"I... I don't know where it is. It left Sumatra weeks ago headed west."

Sage did not lower his weapon as he considered Peter Moke's response.

"Call it in" Sage growled without blinking.

Lex Morrison lowered his pistol and placed it back in his belt before pulling a small two-way radio from his back pocket. Taking a few steps up the beach, he spoke softly into the mic and awaited the reply.

"Negative sir" he eventually reported "The ship hasn't been sighted by the fleet, or by the forward scout ships."

"Tell them all to keep a close eye out and to be on guard" Sage ordered "I don't want to lose any more ships to those guns."

Sage signalled to the hidden men who one by one came out of hiding with their weapons still trained on Peter and Maynard. When he was satisfied they knew the gravity of the situation, he lowered his own side arm and approached them.

"You... you agreed to come unarmed" Peter noted "and there would only be two of you."

"I am sorry but... well actually... I'm not sorry" Sage grinned "Whenever I start negotiations, I much prefer to be in a position of superiority."

"You still haven't told us precisely what it is you want from us" Peter noted.

"What I want is to get of this planet long before it's destroyed" Sage stated bluntly "I don't want to hang around here and die with the rest of you. Not only that, but there are some people on Mars who are hoping never to see me again, and it would give me great pleasure to disappoint them."

Peter tried to swallow but it was quite hard to do with such a dry mouth.

'

* * *

'

It had been a long and tiring day for the small dragon. After being forced to leave the volcanic island before it had finished eating, it was now flying across a section of ocean it had not yet explored. It had passed by a small outcrop of rocks almost an hour ago and if no land appeared soon, the dragon decided it would turn back and stay there for the night. As the sun set ahead of the creature, the fading orange light illuminated a tall peak on the horizon, giving the dragon a much better destination.

Another half hour of flying and the new island came into view. It was a fairly good size with a tall central mountain, bare rocky cliffs on the southeast side, and thick forest on the rest. As the dragon came into land, it found some very interesting features it had never seen before; underneath a rocky overhang, it found a circular pit that looked very inviting. The wide mouth pit had some very old trees growing near the edges offering welcome shelter for a weary dragon, but when it dropped down inside, it found something even better.

The wall of the pit was not a natural formation and instead consisted of cut stone; something the dragon had never seen before. Around the edge were several perfectly square caves with arched openings made from the same stone and it was inside one of these caves, the dragon gathered a pile of fallen branches before setting them alight.

It was not as warm as the volcano, but it was out of the wind and weather and seemed like the perfect place to spend the night.

'

* * *

'

**Spring has finally arrived down under so I've been enjoying bit of sunshine while coping with a violent cat running around the house and ambushing me when I walk by. Oh well, at least she doesn't draw too much blood ;)**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

It felt good to be out of the hot sun but even at the top of the beach under the shade of a tree, the ropes binding Peter and Maynard's wrists more more than a little annoying.

"I was impressed" Peter admitted "All that time standing in front of Sage and you didn't say a word."

"Yeah well... considering he almost killed my daughter, the only words I had to say to him would have been censored on network television. Doctor Spencer said this would not be an easy task but who would have guessed Sage would have gone off the deep end because we weren't in a heavily armed ship?"

"Shh, here he comes" Peter whispered.

As Sage returned with a small group of his makeshift soldiers, Peter and Maynard managed to hear some of what he said, including an order for two men to go out in a small boat and secure the yacht Star Runner.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" Maynard called out "My clever little friends back in Sumatra installed a pretty neat security system."

Sage approached the two bound men with a wry smile on his face.

"Security system eh? I suppose you're telling me if anyone steps on board, the whole thing goes up in a massive explosion" Sage mocked.

Lex Morrison leaned in close and spoke low to Sage.

"With respect sir, I don't think you should risk it. The members of your attack force are all behind you, but most of them have no experience with fighting and are unaware of the risk of battle. If we lose anybody to a simple booby trap before we arrive at the Railgun, it may cause some of them to think twice."

"You don't need to worry Lex" Sage smirked "That boat represents their only means of escape, and I'm sure they wouldn't destroy it."

"Destroy it, no... but we'd sink it" Maynard told his captors.

"Alright then; how do we disarm it?" Sage placed his hands on his hips and successfully tried to look intimidating.

"You don't" Peter said bluntly "It requires both our hand prints on the pads in the galley. And you only have thirty seconds to do it after stepping on board."

"Suppose I just cut your hands off?" Sage gave another evil smile.

"Ah yes but that's the smart bit" Peter continued "the pad also detects a pulse so if you present dead hands, the computer will assume we are both already dead... and then it will blow up."

Sage considered the possibility and probability of the threat before coming to a conclusion.

"You're bluffing!" he decided.

"You're wrong" Maynard did some smirking of his own.

"Lex, stay here and keep an eye on these two" Sage ordered

Turning on his heels, the leader of the Raiders took the rest of his shore party away leaving the captives alone with their one guard. Seeing a great opportunity, Peter decided to use the truth to sow some seeds of doubt.

"Hey Lexy baby, have you ever heard the term, shooting yourself in the foot?"

"You want to stay in my good books and therefore uninjured, you'll never call me Lexy baby again."

"Okay... fair enough" Peter shrugged "But have you heard that ol' saying?"

Lex heaved a big sigh as he decided it would probably be better if he just played along for now.

"Yes I have... so tell me; how am I shooting myself in the foot?"

"Simple; you're letting Sage lead you into an unnecessary battle you do not need to fight."

"You think you can beat us?" Lex laughed.

"No, but that's not what I'm saying" Peter replied "We came here to offer a truce; a compromise to give you everything you want in exchange for a few simple compensations."

"We don't need your so called compromise" Lex smiled "We'll just take what we want."

"Maybe so, but at what cost?" Peter tried to get his foe thinking.

"Cost?" Lex wondered.

"If you let Sage attack the Railgun Complex, there will be many downsides for you" Maynard pointed out.

"Indeed" Peter continued "Firstly, even if you win and take over, there will be casualties and you could be one of them; you'll almost certainly lose some of your friends and family. Secondly, every person in the Railgun Complex killed or injured during the fight, every scientist, every engineer, every technician, will be one less person able to work on Sage's plan to get you all to Mars by greatly reducing our ability to get the job done. Either way you can be sure Sage won't be leading the charge against us or giving up his seat on the first flight off planet."

Lex Morrison considered what he had been told. He didn't trust these two men, who would say anything to be released, but everything they said made perfect sense. In the end he decided to let Sage know what he had been told, so he called on his radio for some men to guard the prisoners before leaving to find Sage; who was currently standing on the shore watching two of his men approach the Star Runner.

Sage felt sure the story about the yacht being rigged to sink was nothing more than a bluff, but there were two things he did not know. He did not know the engineers at the Railgun Complex had indeed made some modifications to the vessel, and he did not suspect that there were still two people on board hiding below deck.

"Peter was right" Emerson said as he stared at the shore through his binoculars.

"Sage didn't stick to the deal?" Doom asked.

"Not even close; men everywhere and they all have guns."

"We'd better stay down here then" Doom nodded.

"Actually... I think we'd better hide; they've just sent a boat out from shore and it's headed this way" Emerson informed her.

"Of course" Doom shrugged "Where else would they go?"

The Star Runner had not been fitted with powerful weapons like the One and All but just like the bigger ship, the keel had been replaced with a large carbon fibre tube that sat hidden under the hull and provided the crew with extra storage space, battery backup propulsion, and a clever little defensive trick. As the small raiding party approached the yacht, Emerson Linwood and Harriet 'Doom' Ingerson each grabbed a bag of personal possession and retreated down into hidden tube keel. If Calla had been there, she could have stood up straight inside the keel but Doom had to stoop over a little, and Emerson had to bend himself in half.

"OWW!" he exclaimed as he hit his head... again.

While Emerson rubbed the back of his head, Doom repositioned the floor panel that hid their escape route and sealed the hatch. As soon as his eyes had adjusted to the low lighting inside the tube, Emerson sat down in front of a small monitor screen and picked up a keyboard. Using the tracking ball, he selected the surveillance icon and turned on the yacht's hidden cameras.

"They're not far off now" Emerson noted.

He kept a close eye on the approaching rowboat thanks to the tiny camera on the top of the mast. As soon as the men stepped onto the Star Runners stern, Emerson switched to one of the deck cameras, and watched them both approach the steps leading down to the galley. The time had come to act but before he could, he had to deal with the soft warm breeze wafting into his ear.

"Not now Harriet, I'm busy!"

"Alone with me below deck, and all this mood lighting, you at least could try to be romantic... and don't call me Harriet."

"Sorry... I'm busy, Doom."

"That's better" she whispered.

Emerson remotely opened four sea valves while the raiders looked around above them, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.

"I don't see any hand print readers" one of them noted.

"Sage was right" the other grinned "They were bluffing about..."

They both noticed the gurgling sound echoing around the cabin simultaneously, followed by a slight change in the slope of the deck as the bow dipped lower in the water. They silently looked at each other with a stare that said 'No... it can't be true.'

"whaAH!" one of them gasped when he realised his feet were now underwater.

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" the other cried out as they both sloshed their way back to the steps.

The forward angle of the yacht grew steeper as water started to flow down from the tiller. Just as one of the raiders managed to reach the handrail at the base of the steps, the other fell on his face as the water flow swept is feet out from under him. The deck of the sleek yacht dipped below the surface, with the roof of the cabin following close behind. Down below deck, water rushed in as air bubbled out causing a swirling vortex the men could not successfully fight against. They held their collective breaths as best they could while trying to protect their heads from being struck against the side of the cabin as they spun.

With the main hull of the ship now fully submerged, the water finally calmed enough for the two men to regain their bearings and swim out of the Star Runners cabin. One of them caught his shoulders in the rigging on his way up but managed to free himself from the taught wires without too much difficulty. One after the other, the two men broke the surface gasping for air, relieved to be freed from the surging aquatic death trap that had held them.

Relief soon turned to disappointment though for as they looked around them, the only thing to be seen close by was the top of the Star Runners mast swaying slowly back and forth.

"Dammit" one of the raiders swore "We shouldn't have tied up with such a short rope."

With their small rowboat now sitting on the sea floor next to the yacht it was tied to, there was no other choice for the men but to start swimming back to shore which they did, but they were in no hurry. The sinking of the yacht was clearly not their fault, but they both knew General Sage would still have a lot of shouting to do; Sage liked shouting.

If there were any proof needed to show this to be true, it soon came when Sage watched the Star Runner disappear under the water. Hurrying back up the beach, he made his anger clearly known to all.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE UP TO?" he cried out as he stormed up to his prisoners.

Fearing Sage would go too far in his anger, Lex Morison and his colleagues held the furious general back to prevent him from getting too violent.

"I'm sorry about your row boat but we did warn you" Maynard said what Sage did not want to hear.

Fearful that Sage may let his anger get the better of him, Lex Morrison turned his back on the captives and quietly pleaded with his boss.

"Sir... please... think about what I told you before, back on the beach. If we can walk into the Railgun Complex without a fire fight, we will get off this planet sooner rather than later. And consider how much this will affect the trust and respect your people have for you. I spent my life with the Raiders, and I know they don't feel comfortable fighting alongside the men who once worked for Prime Governor Redding; and Redding's guards probably feel the same way about us. But if you can spin this right, both sides will see it as a testament to your leadership and hopefully, put aside their petty distrusts."

Sage scowled at his lieutenant in a way that did not fill Lex with confidence.

"You know how much I hate being told what to do, don't you?" he growled.

"Err... yes sir... but I'm not telling you what to do, just giving you my council" Lex offered.

"Maybe so, but I'm not very fond of that either" Sage declared and walked off to fume by himself.

'

* * *

'

Having never encountered a human being before, the small dragon had no way of knowing the stone circle and its caves were not a natural phenomena. And since there had not been a human in that place for many hundreds of years, there were no odd smells to give the game away. There were however, many other loose stones in the general area with flat surfaces and square sides and the dragon soon realised he could put them to good use.

And so after a very satisfying fish breakfast he did not have to give up to a larger dragon, he began to gather some of these stones and pile them around his cave. By the end of the day he had almost completely blocked off the entrance, leaving only a small space for his personal access. The small dragon had no reason to think anything big and angry would turn up and kick him out of his new home, because all signs pointed to this place being long abandoned. But the little fort the dragon had made did help him to feel quite safe and secure.

'

* * *

'

**I agree Vin; as the saying goes, Dogs have owners but Cats have staff.**

**I have found studying up on space tech can really help me when it comes to these stories. I didn't want to just invent stuff like warp drives but only use what was real (with a little exaggeration of course). So I was very pleased to see a video recently about Nuclear Fusion Propulsion Rocket Engines designed back in the 1960's and refined this century.**

**Now I finally know what will power the next generation MTV (yay). Believe it or not, it had been weighing heavily on my mind lately.**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Peter felt quite relieved at being untied, but Maynard was still quite suspicious of their captor. Based on Neville Sage's past actions, it was clear it would not take much to push this unstable man over the edge. Together they were taken back to the ruins of Port Kennedy, where more members of Sage's forces remained hidden.

"Wow... when you break an agreement, you don't mess about do you?" Maynard noted.

"Shaddup" Lex Morrison shoved Maynard's shoulder just to make a point.

Growing up in the United States during such uncertain times, had made Lex a very tough man, but still one with an analytical mind. Raiding the farming communities in the south made sense at the time. Everything he had been told about their comfortable life of safety in a network of massive underground tunnels, while he, his family and friends suffered great hardships from living on the surface of a dying planet, made it easy for him to justify taking what he needed to survive from people unwilling to share their good fortune. Finding out the Raiders and the Farmers were both suffering while being manipulated by Prime Governor Redding, certainly changed his mind about his former foes, but it still caused some confusion for him.

It was true the Farmers had finally manage to beat back the Raiders, thanks to the help they received from Captain Reed Branson and his crew on the One and All, but then those same Farmers has offered to help his people to get off the planet.

Maybe things would have been different if Neville Sage had not arrived first. He had offered the Raiders approximately the same thing, but only if they would rise up as his army. He claimed would lead them to victory at the Railgun Complex and from there they would all depart for the long journey to Mars, where they would never have to worry about a rogue meteorite destroying everything they had worked so hard for. Sage had said the people from Sumatra could not be trusted; maybe this was true but then again, maybe it wasn't. But in the end, he and the other Raiders had made their choice to follow Sage, so he had decided to see it through to the end.

But that did not mean Lex would give Sage a completely free hand to control his friends and family.

"In here" Lex directed the men he still considered enemies.

The sad old building that had once been somebody's home had not been cleaned in any way. Sage had merely ordered his people to clear aside some of the remaining junk and set up a few workable chairs at an old table. Only Lex stayed inside with Sage as the other men were sent outside to wait while in this imperfect setting, the short negotiations began with Peter Moke.

"Right... here's what we're offering; I don't know what you told your people, but you've done interplanetary trips before..."

"Many times" Sage interrupted.

"Exactly; so you know this is not gonna be a walk in the park. If you want to get to Mars with enough people to take over the place, it'll take some planning along with the training of your crew."

"Hold up a minute" Sage crossed his arms and looked at Peter with suspicion "You don't seem very upset about me leading an invasion force to the place you've been supporting for the last few decades."

"Should we be? This Deep Council, whose members ran Mars from behind the scenes, lied to us too. They were the ones you were working for when you tried to kill Luis and Abigail, and other council members tried to kill April, Saffron and many more of my friends. We're working on plans of our own for a settlement in the asteroid belt so as far as Doctor Spencer and I are concerned, Mars has it coming. We don't want to help you, but here you are; and we think things would turn out better for us, if we just get you on your way with a minimum of fuss, rather than try and stop you by literally going to war."

Sage scratched his chin as he pondered what Peter had told him.

"Alright then, I'll listen to your offer" he said eventually.

"Thank you" Peter replied with clear sarcasm, and then continued.

"What we are offering, is to take as many people as you can safely transport on the expanded MTV..."

"Wait... expanded?" Sage asked.

"When April Dias escaped from Mars, she uh... well... to be exact... stole the Mars Orbit Station and took it to the Asteroid Belt to use as a temporary base. When we found out what you were up to, Sarah Spencer sent Luis and the MTV back pick it up and re-integrate it with the ship. He's not back yet but he'll be on his way soon. In the mean time, the Railgun Staff will do their best to get your people ready for space flight; and start training them on the kind of work they'll have to do to survive, once they get to Mars."

Lex Morrison smiled to himself. From the way General Sage had been talking, anyone would have believed he and the Raiders would have nothing to do on the red planet but take turns pointing their weapons at the staff on Mars, order them to do all the work, and spend their off hours living in luxury while sipping on the local equivalent of a Pina Colada. Deep in his mind Lex knew there would be some work to be done, but he was still sure it would be a much better life than what he had experienced on Earth; if it were not so, Sage wouldn't be in such a desperate hurry to get back there.

"So I'll be able to take a large contingent of Raiders on the first trip" Sage looked very satisfied.

"Yes; Doctor Spencer figured you would be more inclined to be flexible with us if we could provide you with more than you expect" Peter admitted.

"So what do you want in return?" Sage's expression turned to one of suspicion.

"Four things" Peter replied "One, while we know you will want to oversee everything, Doctor Spencer doesn't want you making everyone nervous by marching around the complex and barking orders at the point of a gun. Nervous technicians tend to make the kinds of mistakes that can get people killed. If you have to yell at someone, Sarah asks that you yell at her and then let her sort out the Railgun staff."

"Fair enough; what else?"

"Two; you can post a few guards if you want but we don't want any of your people armed while we're instructing them. Mistakes can happen with loaded firearms and as you know, the equipment we use is very sensitive. Also tell the people you do put on guard, not to get over inflated egos and start pushing us around. The last thing we want is for someone to be shot by an overzealous guard just because they may have looked at him in a funny way."

"I'll talk to them... and believe me, they Will listen" Sage was adamant.

"Thank you; thirdly, we realise we're going to have to supply you with almost everything to survive, so we'd like to have some of your people make themselves available to help with the everyday work; farming, food production, moving equipment, and that sort of thing. And we don't want any of them thinking they can just take what they want, when they want. I'm sure you have a leadership team, so have your people tell their own leaders what they want, and we'll have a team on hand who will do their best to sort out all supplies."

"I'll make sure they know the score" Sage nodded "So what is the last of your demands?"

"This is the most important thing..."Peter pause and leaned forward "and it is Not negotiable; we want you to release your hostages unharmed, and we want it done now."

Sage leant back in his chair and gave the smile of a man who knew he had all the power on his side.

"And if I do... how can I be sure you'll keep your end of the bargain?" he asked not with suspicion, but in a gloating kind of way.

"Come on... seriously. Don't you think we know what will happen if we don't hold up our end of the deal? Of course you know full well we really don't want to have anything to do with you and your crazy plan, but we're also smart enough to realise the only good outcome for both of us is for you to get what you want, and be on your way."

"Nevertheless, if I do give your friends back, I think you and this... scowling sailor here should remain with me for now" Sage motioned towards Maynard "Just until Doctor Spencer and I have sorted out any fine details of our arrangement."

"So you agree to let everyone else go, even Professor Adisa?" Maynard was suspicious.

"Yes Popeye, I do!" Sage smirked, clearly showing he enjoyed making fun of Maynard.

"In fact, I'll give the order now... as a show of good faith" Sage continued.

Peter and Maynard looked at each other. Neither of them expected Sage to agree to everything they asked for. Maybe he really was satisfied with what he'd offered. The two men sat at the table for a short time while Sage went out to talk to his men, with only Lex Morrison left to watch over them.

"So what do we do now?" Peter asked.

"We wait" Lex replied.

And wait they did, for almost fifteen minutes. When Sage finally returned, he still wore a very satisfied smile on his face.

"Everything has been arranged" he told them "so if you will accompany me, we shall return to my Flagship and be on our way to the Railgun."

Having no other choice, Peter and Maynard followed Sage outside and down to the beach. A large group of armed men fell in and followed behind so at last, Peter finally knew the considerable size of the force Sage had brought with him to the island. It was clear he trusted no one.

Several wooden and aluminium launches awaited them on the shore, and Peter and Maynard were placed in the lead boat. As they made their way out to sea, Peter could easily make out the ship they were headed for. He had become so used to being on a sailing vessel, the sight of a larger, powered ship felt like quite a surprise. It was as they drew closer though, that he started to feel like something was not quite right. As the small flotilla slowly approached the ship, three other launches could be seen headed back to the island. As they drew closer, Peter was horrified to see Professor Linton Adisa in the lead boat.

"What the hell is going on here?" he growled at Sage.

"Please... calm yourself" Sage replied, not even bothering to look at Peter as he spoke.

"But why are you..."

"I am merely following our agreement... to the letter" Sage interrupted "You said you wanted me to release my hostages immediately, so I am doing precisely that."

"You... you can't just leave them on the island!" Peter gasped.

"I have to" Sage pretended to look innocent "I made a deal with you and I must live up to my end of the bargain."

"Wait... please... what will it take to..."

"Now you listen here" Sage interrupted "I'm putting up with you and your crap for one reason only. I want to get off this planet as soon as I can but remember this; I do NOT... like being given ultimatums. So the sooner you and Spencer learn not to push me around in front of my men, the better things will turn out for you."

"But... they'll die here' Peter begged.

"Maybe" Sage admitted "but I'm not a monster. I'm leaving them with some supplies so if you can get a rescue boat back here in time, everything will turn out just peachy."

Peter and Maynard glanced at each other, not wanting to let on that they already had a rescue boat standing by, and although Sage couldn't see this boat, he was currently looking straight at the top of its mast.

'

* * *

'

Although he missed the warmth of the smouldering volcano, the small dragon found there were many advantages to be had in his new home. One of these was the forest that covered most of the island. When the wind blew hard, the trees gave enough shelter for him to keep flying as long as he kept close to the ground. There was also an abundant amount of fallen wood to be found so the dragon was able to keep a constant, comforting fire going inside his cave.

That night, as he lay down after dinner, he decided if any other dragon should appear on this island, he would not let fear chase him away as it had last time.

'

* * *

'

**Almost didn't get this one ready in time as I spent three days this week outside the city, driving to some small country towns. Saw a small mob of Roos, a few lizards sunning themselves, but fortunately no snakes (yay!)**

**Until next week, bye for now ;)**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Even though the town of Port Kennedy had been long abandoned, being alone on Keriri Island was far more preferable to being under the control of Neville Sage. Even so, the three men who now made up the islands only current inhabitants, still worried about their immediate futures.

"How are you doing Captain?" Professor Adisa asked.

"I'll be alright" Reed Branson replied "Our situation may not be perfect, but I'm just glad to be out of that bilge soaked brig."

"I'm going bring the supplies up from the beach" Henry Dias offered "I want to see if they left us a medical pack; in his condition, Reed could really use a vitamin shot."

Adisa, Dias and Branson had all been given an important role to play, ever since they had first been captured by the late Prime Governor Redding. As the former Head of Operations at the Railgun Complex, Professor Linton Adisa had been just a novelty for Redding to gloat over, but for Neville Sage the elderly Jamaican scholar was the key to forcing Doctor Sarah Spencer to co-operate. Sage had not wanted to release Adisa too soon, just in case any show of kindness would be taken by those around him as nothing more than weakness; so leaving the Professor stranded on an island, gave Sage the way to still keep some small measure of control over him.

Doctor Henry Dias's role was somewhat more complex. For many years he had been a trusted ally of Professor Adisa and indeed they were good friends, but the good Doctor had held a long kept secret. Like so many other people involved with the Mars Project, Henry would have done almost anything to get his young son Luis on the list of Mars colonists. The only problem was, every government official, every high ranking project manager and every person with the influence of wealth, were all under extreme scrutiny to avoid the risk of nepotism when the colonists were chosen. To this end, Henry was helped to fake his own death so his connection with Luis would not be found out. And so after adopting the name Henry Deming, the late Henry Dias spent many years hiding in plain sight and helping to raise his own grandson Blue Dias while the Railgun Complex was in lockdown.

Once his deception had been revealed, Henry Dias had spent his time trying to ride the edge of remaining loyal to Professor Adisa, while still being accepted into Sages inner circle. He had hoped he would be able to keep everyone safe by insisting to Sage they were more valuable as living hostages rather than dead martyrs, but he had only been partially successful. In order to keep the both Professor and Henry Dias in line, Sage had reverted to the age old method of using Reed Branson as a hostage among hostages and convenient whipping boy.

At first the treatment meted out to Captain Branson was positively brutal. After being exposed as an ally of Professor Adisa who had helped to smuggle information out of Prime Governor Redding's bunker, Branson had being beaten and kept in chains under heavy guard before being used as a bargaining chip to keep Professor Adisa in line. Even though there had been no more physical violence, Reed had spent the entire journey across the Pacific confined to the brig and was grossly underfed. So now this once healthy and strong man had become a mere shadow of his former self.

"Here you go Captain; I know it's rather dry and tasteless, but it does have the protein you so badly need" Linton said as he handed Reed a food bar.

"There is some good stuff here, but only a very basic medical kit" Henry noted as he searched through one of the Survival Packs.

"Looks like the food will only last about a week, and only if we ration it" Linton said as he looked over what had been unpacked.

"The real question is, how long will it take till Sarah finds out and sends someone to rescue us?" Henry wondered.

While lying back on the dry sand under a shady tree, a weak but contented Reed Branson thought about the problem at hand before answering.

"Well assuming Sage allows Sarah to send someone to fetch us as soon as she finds out, I would say between eight to ten days."

Henry sighed despondently at the thought of possibly waiting for help that may never come, not noticing the wide smile on Linton Adisa's face

"Although I think your calculation is correct Captain, it really doesn't matter anymore; look out there."

The others followed the Professor's gaze out to sea and were surprised to see the mast of a yacht slowly rising up out of the sea.

"What the..." Reed gasped.

As they continued to stare into the distance, the surface of the water began to bulge and was soon flowing off of the Star Runner's superstructure and deck.

"Hey... that's Linwoods boat" Branson realised.

"And it looks like Sarah and the gang have been doing some modifications to it" Professor Adisa could not help but smile wider.

"But... but... they turned it into a submarine?" Reed Branson could still not quite believe his eyes.

"I suppose since it is not as big as the One and All, they realised it was too small for hidden deck guns and decided to go for something more... shall we say... stealthy?" Adisa wondered.

"I'd say sneaky" Henry Dias suggested.

'

* * *

'

Although he still had a mild cough and his sinuses felt a little sore, Blue's cold had greatly improved over the last few days and he had started moving about the lower deck of the Bull Ant to help regain his strength; as well as some sense of balance. The sun was getting low in the sky but the batteries still held enough power to keep the massive vehicle moving for a few more hours. And so Blue was more than just a little surprised when DeGroot brought it to a slow halt; therefore he decided to investigate.

"Anything wrong?" he asked as climbed the stairs to the upper deck.

"We've made it to the coast at last" Maximilian DeGroot answered.

"Wonderful" Blue smiled as he made his way to the front window.

They had come through the mountains at the precise place they had been aiming for. Down below them about ten kilometres away, a good sized town sat near a cliff overlooking where the North Atlantic Ocean met the Labrador Sea.

"I'm not sure if we would make it there today, but I'm sure we could close the distance considerably before night falls" DeGroot suggested.

Blue thought for a while before coming to an important decision.

"No... I think we'd be better off leaving the Bull Ant hidden up here in the forest."

"Really... um... why?" DeGroot wondered.

"If we drive down to the town, and then manage to get passage across the Atlantic, when we eventually get back here you can be sure the Bull Ant would have been stolen, stripped or just claimed by someone else. I realise I can't guarantee it will be safe up here either, but at least there's a chance it will still be around if we ever need it again. Drive onto a side track and we'll hide it in the forest, then we'll grab some supplies and walk to the town. We should get there just after dark" Blue decided.

"All righty then" DeGroot nodded as he carried out Blue's instructions.

'

* * *

'

Far to the west, Abigail and Calla sat forlornly in a small wooden cabin and waited somewhat impatiently to learn about their immediate fate.

"You people have no gratitude" Calla huffed.

"Just... shut up."

The two women charged with keeping an eye on the accused girls had very mixed feelings. They could understand Calla's point of view but the argument put forward by Gran and her inner circle of close followers, seemed to make sense too.

A few days had passed since the people digging from the outside and those digging from within, finally met up and freed all the townsfolk trapped underground. The mood back then was more one of relief rather than celebration, with a liberal amount of melancholy thrown in as a funeral was held for the late Nancy Clark. Calla and Abigail had not been permitted to attend the service, held in a small clear space behind the rear buildings, so they never did get the chance to say goodbye to one of the few friends they had in this place.

As soon as Gran had exited the tunnel, she had given the order for the young ladies to be put under arrest until their trial. It seemed spending more than a week digging dirt, breaking rocks and chopping logs, was a good deed that certainly would not go unpunished. The trial was short, and now they waited with their guards in the infirmary for the verdict; their wrists bound with light rope, and shackles binding their ankles. A long heavy chain running through a ring on the back of the shackles kept the two girls firmly attached to the legs of the bench they sat on.

"If I had a time machine, I'd go back to a time when people were more considerate and merciful" Calla mumbled "Like the Middle Ages... or the last years Roman Empire."

"Hmm..." Abigail thought "Burnt as a witch, thrown to the lions, or Gran's Kangaroo Court? Yeah it is hard to decide."

They were both still giggling when the door opened and Stanley stepped inside.

"The jury had returned from its deliberations and they're ready to give their verdict" he said emotionlessly as he undid the chain.

"I assume the hanging rope is prepared, and the mob are all waving their flaming torches" Calla smirked.

"Just get outside" Stan sighed as he shoved them through the open door.

The girls were led out into the cold air where the entire community were gathered to see and hear the proceedings. Everything had been put together in a very hap hazard way the day before, and the trial had begun as soon as the outdoor court had been prepared. Calla had immediately objected to Gran being the one to act as judge, but her protest had fallen on deaf ears as their fate was to be determined not by Gran, but by a supposed jury of their peers. Abigail took great pains to point out that she and Calla had no peers in this place, but nobody took her seriously either. One interesting thing to come from the trial was when they finally learned Gran's real name.

"All rise in court for the continuation of the trial of Calla Donia Linwood and Abigail Susan Dias; Judge Phyllis Joyce Lindstrom presiding" the badly dressed clerk announced.

"I still can't believe they're actually doing this" Calla shook her head as close to a hundred people stood to their feet.

As soon as Gran had taken her seat, everyone else followed suit and sat too. Gran pick up the top sheet of paper from the pile on the table and read from it.

"The defendants have been charged with wilful disobedience resulting in the death of Nancy Clark."

Much to everyones surprise, Abigail bent down and picked up a small rock in the fingers of her still bound hands, raised her arms over her head and threw it at the Judge. Considering the power she had put into the throw, it was fortunate for Gran that she missed, but the rock did hit the table and ricocheted close to Gran's head.

"I WARNED YOU!" the young Martian girl screamed.

And indeed she had. Abigail had become quite frustrated at constantly being blamed for the Nancy's death, and had taken to hurling any missile close at hand at whoever dare to suggest it. This was the main reason why their wrists had been bound.

"Will someone please keep that girl under some semblance of control?" Gran ordered, her heart still racing from the near miss.

"Scared much Phyllis?" Calla smirked.

After she had first tried to annoy Gran by referring to her by her first name, Calla noticed how effective it had been and so adopted the practice at every opportunity.

"When will you two finally realise that your lives would be so much easier, if you would only settle down and accept our hospitality" Gran scowled but Calla just scoffed back at her.

"Don't be ridiculous Phyllis, you know it is the duty of any Prisoner of War to escape captivity and return to their allies."

"Prisoners of... What the hell are you talking about? We're not at war with anyone!" Gran protested.

"So you say; but as far as I am concerned, keeping us here against our will is an act of war!" Calla stated firmly.

"Against who?" Gran smirked derisively.

"For kidnapping Blue, his people in West Sumatra, for me there is the refugee fleet currently allied with Blues people; and worst of all because you have Abby, all the forces of Mars."

Calla hoped the last part of her statement would be a real cause of concern for everyone present; and it was.

"You seriously think the people of Mars are going to return to Earth?" Gran laughed.

At first Gran's words brought a mild sense of peace over the worried crowd, until Abigail made them think again.

"Well... I did" she stated bluntly.

A two second silence was followed by the hum of the whole crowd whispering to each other. Calla could see their plan was having some effect on everyone present so she nodded for Abigail to continue.

"Those of you old enough to remember may recall the Mars Transfer Vehicle used to take people and equipment to Mars; well it is still out there and my father is its commander and pilot. As you may know, I was born on Mars and based on what I've seen, a dozen members of our Security Force could over run and subdue this place in less than fifteen minutes if they wanted to; none of you would stand a chance."

The whispering turned to mumbling as the crowd began to wonder if their days were numbered. No one had considered the possibility that these children could have such powerful allies; if it were true of couse and Gran was far from convinced.

"EVERYONE... PLEASE, CALM DOWN" she begged "please remember, I worked on the Mars project, and what this... child... is telling you, is nothing but lies and fabrications. Mars Base One does not have a huge Security Force; they don't have ray guns or any kind of futuristic weapons. Even if they wanted to, there is nowhere for them to land an attack group for over two hundred miles."

"Abby and me landed in northern California... and we got here with no real trouble" Calla noted.

"And how long has it been since you were involved with the Mars Project? Twenty years...twenty five... maybe more? A lot has changed since then" Abigail smiled a very disturbing smile.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!" Gran burst out.

All went quiet as the murmuring stopped and the accused girls stood silently.

"I don't want to hear any more of this; foreman, give us your verdict" Gran ordered now she had everyones attention.

The jury foreman looked to the other members of the jury nervously. She wanted to believe what Gran said about a possible conflict being nothing more than a distraction by the girls, but deep down inside she just wasn't sure.

"Um... sorry but... could we go back and deliberate a bit more?" she asked.

The look of confusion on Gran's face was plain to see.

"What? I thought you'd reached a decision."

"Uh... well... we had but..."

"If you've reached a decision then there will be no more deliberation! Please tell the court; how do you find the accused?"

"They don't have to find us, we're right here" Calla smirked and most of the crowd failed to stop themselves from giggling a little.

Gran took the age old step of calling for order before repeating her question to the jury foreman. Although she continued to look very worried, the jury foreman took a deep breath and finally delivered the verdict.

"On the first charge of wilful disobedience, we find the defendants... guilty."

As could be expected, a dull murmur filled the air but the foreman did not stop.

"On the second charge, the manslaughter of Nancy Clark..." the foreman did a quick check to see if Abigail was about to throw something, but the young girl just stood perfectly still "...we find the defendants... Not guilty."

There was an audible sigh of relief amongst the crowd. For Calla and Abigail the verdicts were meaningless, as they would not have been set free, no matter what conclusion the jury had come to. But for the people of the mountain settlement, the threat of war with superior forces had made many people think things would turn out better for them in the long run, if the girls were treated well.

Later that evening, when they were back inside their locked room deep in the tunnel system, Calla and Abigail considered the sentence Gran had enforced upon them.

"Not bad really" Calla thought out loud "Pretty much the way things were before, but now instead of just being supervised all day, we have actual prison guards following us."

"Plus we have to spend more time in here" Abigail added then she lowered the tone of her voice as deep as she could "When not working, they shall be kept in constant confinement!"

Calla could not help but laugh. The impersonation of Gran did not sound real, but the mocking tone was just what she needed to make her feel better.

"Do you think it was a good idea, making up that stuff about them being at war with us?" Abigail wondered.

"It made them think twice about what they were doing, and that's a good thing" Calla decided "I must admit, I loved it when Gran said you don't have ray guns on Mars, and you were all 'Times have changed.' When that settled into their tiny brains, no one was really sure what you said was real, and what was a bluff."

As she lay back on the bed, Calla continued to run over the day's events until curiosity finally got the better of her, and she had to ask the question that had been bothering her all afternoon.

"Do you have ray guns?"

"No Calla, we don't."

"... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... pity."

'

* * *

'

The air was cold, but the sun shone through the scattered clouds and the small dragon was making the most of the fine weather by doing some more detailed exploration of his new island home. In many places he found more signs of past human presence, but still could not make sense of anything, having never seen a human before.

The place he considered to be the best find of the day, was a wide sinkhole with mostly sheer sides. At the floor of this natural depression was a small fresh water lake with a few fish swimming inside. The dragon did not try catch any yet, deciding to keep them in reserve for those days when the sea was far too rough for him to go fishing in.

Definitely a good day by any definition.

'

* * *

'

**Bleah... I've got a cold too... what are the odds. I first wrote this chapter months ago little knowing that when it came time to publish it, I would be in the same boat at the main character. If I was a superstitious person, I would make sure nothing bad ever happened to him again just in case it happened to me too, but I'm not supersticious. And besides, this story is not even half over and there should be a third book after this. So it would be pretty boring if everything worked out for Blue time and time again.**

**My timing was perfect though because there is a two week break for schools on now so there is very little work for bus drivers like me. This means I have been able to spend a few days resting at home while I get over this cold. Playing computer games, writing, watching the Steven Universe Movie again... and again, singing along to the music and ignoring the weird looks I am getting from Boo the Cat; what fun.**

**I've hit double figures with this story at last with a whole ten readers (yay). A bit different from the thousands who read How to Survive on Dragon Island but don't worry, I won't stop writing; I don't write for numbers but because I enjoy being creative (even if I am a bit amateurish). That said, I really do appreciate you guys and girls for taking the time to read this. You make it so worthwhile (happy face).**

**Six more chapters to go for Act One and chapter fifteen should be out in about a week.**

**Bye for now, **_**Marty **_** ;D**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

As they approached the town, Max DeGroot and Blue Dias could tell it was very different to all the others they had encountered since leaving Edwards Air Force Base. This was no cluster of agricultural settlements where the people survived by growing, hunting and occasionally fishing; this was truly a centre of trade. Set back from the ocean and high on a cliff to give protection from any incoming tsunami, travellers could come here and swap their goods and produce for anything they could not provide for themselves. On the outskirts of the town there were some fruit trees and penned animals, but it seemed the town relied mostly on goods from the outside to survive. One important way the townsfolk ensured trade was strong, was to provide something nobody really needed, but everyone wanted; alcohol.

As soon as Blue and DeGroot had left the Bull Ant, different aromas had wafted up from the town. At first it was the foul smell of fermenting hops but as they drew closer, they came across a number of boiling stills making rough facsimiles of gins, whiskeys and other distilled beverages. In the failing twilight of evening, the people of the town hurried to complete their transactions with the many visiting traders; some who had come overland with carts full of produce, and others who had sailed in from up and down the coast. A dangerous way to travel, but many people still made the attempt on a regular basis.

Of course there was no street lighting, but anyone who wanted to continue trading after dark would have a fire brazier burning out the front of their business to attract attention from those passing by. Some of these businesses were simple trading posts, but most were places where tired travellers would go to eat, drink or maybe take a room for the night. With nowhere else to go, Blue and DeGroot chose one that didn't look too rough and wandered inside.

"Oh my goodness" a loud feminine voice exclaimed "I was beginning to wonder if we'd ever see another new face in these parts ever again, and then in comes two of 'em."

A woman in her late twenties stepped out from behind the bar and greeted the pair. Her exclamation had caused every eye in the place to turn towards the front door, but they soon turned back to their own meals.

"You both look like you've been through the wars; long trip?"

"Wars?" Blue was taken aback "Is there some kind of conflict going on?"

His first thought was for Abigail and Calla. If Gran had managed to annoy some other group of travellers by kidnapping another small selection of people, the girls could end up as collateral damage and the thought of it frightened him.

"It's uh... just a term of phrase; I mean you look like you've had a rough time out there" the lady said, concerned by the look in Blues eyes.

"Oh... yes... it hasn't been easy" Blue smiled sheepishly.

"Look... take a seat; I've got some vegetable stew in the kitchen, you can have a small bowl on the house. Anything more substantial and you'll have to pay for it."

"Thank you Ma'am, most kind of you" DeGroot nodded and steered Blue to a table near the door.

Blue tried desperately to get his mind back on track. The more time he spent double guessing himself, the slower he would be to act, and the longer Abigail and Calla would be trapped in the mountains. With his thoughts back under control, he realised the woman running this bar and cafe could provide him with valuable information, if he asked her the right questions. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to help calm his nerves. When he reopened them, he noticed that three men at the corner table were looking at him, while trying to make it look like they weren't. One of them held what appeared to be a card, and his gaze kept changing between it and Blue. Not long after, the woman returned with two small bowls of hot stew and a pitcher of water.

"Here you go gents" she smiled as she placed her tray on the table.

As she passed out the bowls and spoons, Blue decided to take a chance.

"Um... I was wondering if you knew those men in the corner; they keep looking at me."

"That's not surprising" she answered "You're new here so they're probably wondering what your deal is; if you're buying, selling, trading, that kind of stuff. Do you want me to make some discreet enquiries on your behalf? Part of our business here is to act as kind of middleman/go-between for new traders here; my husband and I will make sure you don't get short changed on prices... for a small percentage."

"Uh... thanks but we're not trading, we're hoping to find passage across the Atlantic."

"Perhaps you can tell us what kind of currency is used here?" DeGroot asked.

"Paper money is not trusted much, any recognisable coin is good for a small transaction, and straight trade is negotiated for larger items and bulk goods" she answered.

"Oh... then maybe you could advise me on these" DeGroot took a leather pouch from his pack.

It was not surprising that Blue had not seen this before; DeGroot never strayed far from the pack that held his precious books, and never let anyone see what else might be in there. He opened the pouch and took out a selection of coins to show the lady. She examined them closely, turning a few over to see the other side.

"We'd take the coins from Europe and the Americas, most people here would. But there's a few there I don't recognise" she noted.

"Oh those are some I picked up on the western side of the Pacific; Island Nations, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji... places like that."

"Well it looks like you've got enough in your hand for a good meal, but I doubt the whole bag would buy you passage across the Atlantic; you'd have to work for it."

"Oh we don't mind getting our hands dirty" DeGroot smiled.

"Well I'll ask around but you may have a long wait ahead of you. Most of the boats that come and go from here are fishers and traders from down the coast" the lady noted.

Having been caught up in the conversation, Blue was a little worried to see the corner table now only had two men sitting at it, and they both still had their eyes on him and DeGroot. Blue assumed the third member of the group had gone quietly out the back way.

"Mmm... this stew isn't bad" DeGroot said after taking a spoonful "I wonder how long we will have to wait before the right ship comes along; days, weeks or months?"

"The sooner the better, that's for sure" Blue mumbled.

As they sat and ate, the men in the corner continued to pretend not to be watching them, but ten minutes later when the third man returned through the front door, he had someone else with him. The newcomer definitely stood out from all the other people in the cafe. Several years older than Blue, the best word to describe her would have to be rough. Her light brown hair was long, flowing and rough. Her eyes were a rough dark hazel and her rough skin had seen a lot of sun and weather. Her thin muscular frame showed that her life had been pretty rough too; the most obvious sign being a 25% reduction in the number of limbs normally possessed by the average person. She smiled with a look of delight and relief as she gazed down.

"Henry Dias the 2nd; known to his friends as Blue" she said as she sat down at the table "Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you?"

'

* * *

'

"Fascinating... simply fascinating" Professor Adisa smiled as he looked over the improved Star Runner.

He had never seen below the deck of the yacht before, so he had nothing to compare but he was aware it did not originally have a sealed hatch hidden under a false floor panel.

"Was Maynard upset when they cut the keel? I remember I was when they sliced the One and All" Branson admitted.

"Actually Dad was okay with it" Emerson informed them "Partly because he'd already seen it done to your ship, but mostly because the Star Runner can be returned to almost original condition; if we want to. Your tube keel is well hidden by the One and All's hull, so it was attached directly. But with a smaller yacht, the engineers needed to put it much lower in the water so it wouldn't be seen from the surface; that's why you'll find the ladder to the tube keel is so long."

"I'd love to see it out of the water" Branson admitted.

"Sorry Reed but I doubt you'll have the chance in the near future" the Professor said, disappointing everyone "We can't go back to Sumatra straight away or Sage will know he'd been tricked; not to mention the fact that he thinks this particular vessel is now sitting on the bottom of the Torres Straight."

"So what do we do Linton?" Henry asked.

"First we need to find a way to contact Sarah" he replied.

"Oh we can help you there" Doom smiled "Come into my parlour said the spider to the flies."

She lifted the hatch and started climbing down into the dark tunnel followed by Professor Adisa. His eyes slowly adjusted to the dim lighting, and he felt much better now he could see the rungs rather than just feel for them. At the bottom, Doom took the Professor forward to the main computer system.

"Not much room to move in here" the Professor noted as he stooped to avoid hitting his head.

"Yeah they had to cram a lot in here, but it is functional" Doom replied.

Sitting the keyboard, lit only by the light from the monitor, Doom proceeded to type an odd phrase. Looking over her shoulder, the Professor read it out loud.

"Cooling Systems Optimal; okay so what does that mean?"

"Doctor Spencer had an idea to give us back worldwide communication... temporarily at least. With all the weird stuff going on here and in space..."

"Weird stuff?" Linton Adisa was not used to this kind of terminology.

"... Mrs. Dias decided to come back here to have her baby on Earth" Doom continued.

"April is on Earth again?" the Professor was quite amazed.

"I assume so; they were still working on it when we left... or had she just landed? So much was going on I just can't remember" Doom scratched her head.

"Never mind that, what about this communication system?"

"Oh... yeah... when the shuttle was launched to get Mrs. Dias, it also carried a thingy for shooting out tiny satellites."

"A cube sat launcher?" Linton asked.

"Yeah, that's what she called the doohickie. Anyway these cube sats can bounce signals all over the place so we can type out messages to each other. The One and All has the same system on board now too."

Doom smiled with satisfaction at having explained the situation without getting too lost in detail. Her knowledge in electronics had greatly increased since arriving at the Railgun Complex, but she still had trouble with some of the terminology.

"That doesn't explain what you typed" Linton noted.

"Oh it's code" she explained "When Sarah see's Cooling Systems Optimal on her screen, she knows it's us. But if Sage or anyone else should see it, they would think it was just the computer doing regular safety reports."

"Ah... clever; so what next?" Linton asked.

"We wait till someone notices" Doom replied.

And wait they did, but not for long. It only took a few minutes for someone back at the Railgun to notice the code words, and another few minutes to notify Doctor Spencer."

_**Ready to receive message; Sarah.**_

"Formal as always" Linton smiled "May I please?"

Doom moved to the side allowing the Professor to sit down at the keyboard.

_**Hi Sassy**_he typed.

There was a short gap till the next message; Linton guessed correctly that Doctor Spencer had gotten emotional upon hearing from her old friend and mentor after so long.

_**Professor Adisa?**_

_**Of course it is**_; he replied.

_**Please tell me you are alright. **_Sarah asked.

_**I am and so is Henry. Captain Branson is not well, but we are taking good care of him now we are free.**_

_**So Sage agreed to release you; any caveats on the deal? **_

"Oh she is not going to like this" Linton declared as he typed.

_**Peter and Maynard now with Sage. Prisoners, hostages? I don't know. We are on the Star Runner with Doom and Emerson – Sage thinks yacht is sunk and we are trapped on island and awaiting rescue; but in reality we are all fine and free.**_

No reply came for a few minutes and Doom became worried.

"Why doesn't she answer?"

"Because my dear, Sarah has now realised that if Sage thinks we are trapped here, we cannot return home lest he find out the yacht did not sink and he was conned. She is trying to think of a way around the problem, but she will soon realise all her plans are far too risky."

_**You already know you can't come back here, don't you? **_Sarah typed at last.

_**Yes; but the question is, where should we go instead? **_The Professor typed back.

Doctor Sarah Spencer leant back in her chair and rubbed her forehead. She was so relieved to know the Professor and the others were alive and well, but still worried about Sage. How could she help her friends without accidentally putting them in more danger? After much thought, she picked up the intercom phone and called the ship beached nearby.

"It's Sarah here Willow; take anyone you need off any other project, but I want that electric tug in the water and ready to sail in under twenty four hours."

'

* * *

'

It was a windy day, but the sky was reasonably clear with only a few high scattered clouds; a perfect day for exploring. The wind blew in from the south so the dragon chose this as the first direction he would take while exploring the area around his new home. After an hour he had only seen a few rocky outcrops offering no real shelter, but they may come in handy one day as resting stops if he found himself a long way from home.

Eventually though, several small islands did appear below the clouds giving the dragon a real opportunity to do some exploring. Due to their smaller size, none of these islands would make a better home but they would support him if he one day was forced to leave his current residence. Most other dragons would be welcome to share his island, but there were some breeds he knew to avoid in order to maintain good health. And so after taking a wild rabbit for his lunch, the dragon took advantage of the prevailing tail wind to make his way back home once again, once again feeling highly satisfied with what he had achieved.

'

* * *

'

**Feeling much better now my cold is subsiding but I'm still a bit sniffily. Holiday break means house is cleaner, garden is neater, and about 500 to 800 words a day are being written. After being bogged down in the mountains for so long, I was glad to get Blue out of the woods and on his way again.**

**Sorry to hear about your cold Vin, and I certainly would not wish my illness on to others just to make me feel better (lol). Good idea about the gold mine but I do have Blue other good things happening to Blue, so I'm covered there.**

**You are right of course about the OC stories as the yearly Snoggletog tales always bring in more readers. In the end I am happy to do both just for the fun of it. I once tried to come up with some further stories featuring the characters from Bolthorn Castle because Berk Vikings can be involved in those too. But so far these ideas have not been great and they are still a work in progress.**

**As for Phyllis, I didn't even notice the similarity to Mildew's sheep Fungus (lol 2). Her name actually came from one of my favourite comic actresses, Cloris Leachman (Frau Blücher from Young Frankenstein)** **who once played a character named Phyllis Lindstrom in the Mary Tyler Moore Show and in her own spin off series. Gran's middle name Joyce was chosen randomly because the original idea of using the name Cloris just sounded weird when spoken. Phyllis Cloris; it sounds like the Latin name of an orchid (lol 3).**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Blue looked at the young lady with deep suspicion, while DeGroot looked at her with confused familiarity.

"Why were you looking for me?" Blue asked abruptly.

"I've come to take you home" she smiled broadly.

"Ah so you're working for Gran; well you can tell her I am not coming back" Blue sneered "Did she offer some kind of reward for me?"

"Um... Gran?"

The girl looked confused at first but then she smiled again. To the surprise of everyone in the room, she then leant forward, undid some buckles around her knee, and placed her right leg upon the table.

"Take a look at that; a close look" she suggested.

Blue looked over the artificial leg hesitantly at first, but a few details caught his eye so he reached out and picked it up. In his travels Blue had met people with artificial limbs before, but none of them had been of this high quality. The main structure appeared to be made of titanium, with strong flexible joints at the ankle and toe area. The design would clearly make walking and running feel quite natural. Its makers were certainly very experienced designers, engineers and crafters. He suddenly realised how right he was when he noticed two script letters engraved below the inside ankle.

"W.P." he read out loud and then the penny dropped "WILLOW PASCAL; YOU'VE COME FROM..."

Blue caught himself in time and lowered his voice"

"You've come from Sumatra."

"Surprise!" the young lady proclaimed quietly.

"I... I'm sorry but I don't remember you" Blue admitted "Were you one of the people in Captain Branson's refugee fleet?"

"No but I did know the good captain; my name is Haley Robinson. I met your friends when they came to America."

"OH!" DeGroot exclaimed "I remember you... from that town... El Centro... but you had..."

"Two legs?" she smiled "Yes I did but I caught a bullet in a fire fight; it was during a supposed truce with the raiders from northern California. Things went sour for us thanks to a guy I believe you're familiar with; Neville Sage."

"Oh yes... we know him" Blue nodded "So how did you know to find me here?"

"We didn't" Haley said with a shrug "The last report we got was that the Bull Ant was sighted by your Dad from orbit over one hundred kilometres west of here. Ever since we arrived in the area, the One and All has been sailing up and down the coast looking for any sign of you guys. I was dropped off in this town a few days ago, searching the area and letting people know there would be a reward to the first person who could tell me where you were."

"So that's why those guys in the corner were staring at us" Blue realised.

"Yup; so all we have to do now is pay them off, grab the girls and call the ship back to pick us up" Haley said with satisfaction.

"Ah..." Blue suddenly looked very guilty.

"So where are the girls?" Haley asked.

"They're um... not with us" Blue admitted.

"What? Why?"

It did not take long for Blue to explain the trouble they'd had with the survivalists town deep in the mountains, and tell of Calla's plan to ensure Blue's escape so he could get help. Haley looked like her world had just fallen apart.

"Hmm... before coming here, I called Captain Sumner on the radio to tell him you'd been spotted, but now I wish I'd waited. Everyone will be so disappointed to hear about Calla and Abigail. One thing for sure, there are not enough crew members on the One and All to mount a rescue raid; we'll have to send for reinforcements."

"You can do that?" Blue gasped.

"Sure can" Haley smiled broadly "That Doc Spencer is really smart and the people that work for her can do anything. Well... it seems to me like they can do anything. After spending my entire life in a farming community on the edge of a desert, I thought that Railgun complex was amazing. I still get excited about it every time I look at the leg they built me."

"Yeah... they are pretty cool" Blue agreed "So how long before the ship gets back?"

"Captain Sumner says about mid morning tomorrow; we'll contact Doctor Spencer as soon as they arrive. But in the mean time, I've got enough coin to get us a good meal and a bed for the night; I just have to pay off my informants."

Haley rose from the table and went over to the three men sitting in the corner, who had been watching the proceedings rather impatiently.

"It's them isn't it?" one of them said quietly "You got our money?"

"I got your money" Haley smirked "But two of the people I'm looking for are still missing so maybe I should only give you half."

Two of the men stayed seated and just looked disappointed, but the biggest of the three stood up in order to look as intimidating as he truly was.

"I saw how long you were talking to those two and I heard a little of what they said. That kid told you where the others are so we still deserve the full amount!"

To everyone's surprise, Haley threw back her head and laughed. Then she dragged another chair over from a nearby table and sat down on it backwards.

"Calm down gents, it's just my weird sense of humour."

Reaching into the leather satchel hanging over her shoulder, Haley removed a small pouch. As she dropped it on the table, the men could all here the jingle of coins inside.

"Here you go; count 'em if you want but you'll find there is a little bit extra in there."

One of them did proceed to count the coins from various Pacific countries, while the large man looked at Haley with suspicion.

"You're giving us extra? I don't get it; why?"

Haley lent in closer and suddenly looked serious.

"We're leaving soon but we will be back. If others come here before me, people from Sumatra, you give them any help they need. When I get back and they tell me how helpful you were, there'll be another bag of coins in it for you. Does that sound acceptable?"

The big man looked to the one who had done the counting.

"Is there extra there?" he asked.

"More than double" came the reply.

The large man looked quite surprised; he smiled at Haley and nodded.

"If any friends of yours show up, you will be very pleased with the way we treat them."

"That's what I wanted to hear" Haley nodded as she removed a special coin from her vest pocket "And here is a bonus for telling me what I wanted to hear."

She tossed the coin into the air and the large man grabbed at it as it bounced off the table. Considering what they had just earned, one more tiny coin seemed rather petty, but when the man looked at it closely though, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"What is it Joe?" one of the others asked.

All the coins in the bag were of small denominations, and from many different countries. But when Joe passed the coin over for the others to see, they gasped at the sight of something they had never seen before. It bore the image of a dolphin on one side, and the side view of an elderly lady wearing a crown on the other. The words engraved on it stated the coin was one ounce of 99.99% fine gold. The men smiled at each other while trying to keep their composure. Eventually they all got up to leave and on their way out, they all gave a respectful nod to Blue and DeGroot. Joe lent over to Haley and spoke softly in her ear.

"Rest assured Miss, anyone who turns up here from Sumatra will be very pleased with our hospitality."

"Nice to know favours can still be bought with a little bit of gold" Haley said to Blue with an obvious smirk n her face.

'

* * *

'

With the evening work shift now complete, Abigail and Calla were escorted back into the tunnel system and to the mess area for dinner; after which they would be locked in their room for the night. Gran insisted that two members of the community stay with the girls at all times even though there was really no chance they could ever succeed in escaping again. Calla assumed the guards were partly to make Gran feel superior, and partly to make the punishment seem more severe than it really was.

There was one unforseen side effect of having the girl's constantly monitored, and Gran was only now becoming aware of it. As she sat at a nearby table eating her own dinner, Gran could hear Abigail answering questions some of the people had about Mars. And it was not just those acting as guards; a small crowd soon gathered around to hear the young girl's stories.

"Even though some of the small, fast Mars Surface Vehicles could easily drive into these tunnels, the main transports would be far too wide" Abigail informed the eager crowd gathered around her.

"These tunnels were made for freight trains; are you saying the Mars Transports are bigger than that? Why'd they have to be so huge?" one of the listeners gasped.

"Everything on the surface has to be totally self sustaining with air scrubbers, water supplies, stores and equipment. Anything we'd need to survive on a long journey, we had to take with us. The biggest transports really were like trains with no tracks and even had science labs and medical facilities onboard."

"You said before you had those special gardens... um... hydroponics and stuff like that; did you grow food on the big transports too?"

The eager young man who asked that question soon wished he hadn't when some of the others at the table laughed at him.

"No but you guys shouldn't laugh; we did have special systems on board for moving large numbers of seedlings and small plants from section to section as well as base to base. The health of our plants was very important so if one crop showed any signs of disease, we had to be sure it was well isolated from all other food sources."

The small crowd actually gasped at the thought of being so isolated on an alien planet. On Earth if the tomato crop failed, there were many other sources of food but the Martians could not go fishing or hunting like they could.

"So how did you come to return to Earth; how did it happen?" someone asked.

This appeared to be a very important question for everyone as they all encouraged Abigail to tell the tale. Having been a witness to almost everything that had happened, Calla leant back in her chair with her hands behind her head and smiled knowingly.

"Okay but it's a long story so I'll tell you the first bit now and we'll continue another day; Scheherazade style."

"She-whozy-what?" someone sneered.

"The famed storyteller of One Thousand and One Nights" Abigail informed them.

"One thousand and one? That's almost three years; the story can't be that long" someone else complained.

"No no..." Abigail tried to calm the agitated bunch "I just mean I'll continue it tomorrow."

The whole crowd gave an 'ah' of understanding, allowing Abigail to finally begin.

"I was on my first space flight as an official cadet in the Mars Space Corps with my dad Major Luis Dias, and our Commander, Neville Sage. Our main mission was to pick up more supply capsules, sent from Earth by the only remaining members of the Mars Project still operating on this planet; but our secondary mission was to do some imaging scans of the Sumatra Railgun launch site itself. Something had happened down there and the leaders of Mars Colony wanted to know what it was. What my father and I did not know, was Commander Sage had special orders. If everything looked normal in Sumatra, then all would have been okay; but if anything was different, he had to keep my father and I from finding out so nobody else on Mars would find out either. We didn't know it at the time, but there were a lot of secrets being kept on Mars. Needless to say when the images were taken, something very unexpected was found down on Earth."

Everyone leant forward even more, and the only thing to be heard was the quite sound of breathing as everyone waited for Abigail to continue the story.

"What was it?

"What did you see?" everyone wanted to know.

"It was a ship" Abigail revealed.

"A space ship?" someone asked.

"No, an oil tanker."

"But there was no oil in it" Calla interrupted "It was full of supplies, machinery and technology."

"Yes and it was this technology that got us into trouble at first, and then got us out of trouble again" Abigail nodded.

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Gran got up "You've all heard enough stories for one day, now get those prisoners locked up for the night."

Nobody dared argue with Gran and a few minutes later, the girls were listening to the bolts being locked on the outside of their room.

"I was surprised at how interested everyone was" Abigail said as she prepared for bed.

"I was surprised Gran let us go as far as we did" Calla replied.

Back in her own room, Phyllis 'Gran' Lindstrom took a deep breath and tried to still her rapidly beating heart. She would not have admitted to anyone, but she too had been fascinated while listening to Abigail's version of events, considering how much she too knew about the Mars Project. But hearing the name Neville Sage mentioned so many times had made her extremely nervous and so Gran was sure tonight would be a night of disturbing nightmares.

'

* * *

'

Before the earthquake and before it had emerged from the fissure, the small dragon had lived amongst a very vibrant little community of similar dragons. He had always assumed he would not be the last of his kind to take advantage of the newly formed exit to the outside world, and today this was proven to be true.

While exploring to the northeast of his island, the dragon had located another small piece of land and found several more small fire breathing winged lizards. He noticed three of them as he approached the island and two more as he landed on the beach. The one closest to him took an aggressive stance and gave a hiss of warning as soon as he touched down, but the newcomer quickly made it very clear of his good intentions. Keeping his distance, the dragon did not return the look of anger, but instead simply say down on his back haunches, gave a light growl of greeting and a single bow of his head.

The change in the other dragon's mood was so instantaneous; it was as if there had never been any aggression in the first place. The other dragon trotted joyfully up to the newcomer and looked him over while checking his scent as well. The small dragon then realised he knew these others so they too must have found their way to surface through the same fissure as he had.

The dragon spent a few hours with his new friends playing and eating fish, but eventually the time came for him to leave so he could get back to his home island before nightfall. Taking to the air, the dragon flew once around the tiny island calling out to the others before heading off towards the southwest. They may not follow the dragon today, but just like him they would explore the sea around their island and would one day visit him. Maybe some of them would like his island better and decide to stay.

'

* * *

'

**I sometimes find the coincidences of life can be truly astounding. In the past I had decided that characters like Dylan the Psychic Spider and the Mystical Birds of the Mind, would only be single story gags. But two weeks ago I finished Act 2 of Blue Sky Falling and started working on this year's Snoggletog story. Long before I got to the end of chapter one, two of the birds had put in an appearance, and thoughts of including the grandson of Dylan had begun to form in my tiny mind. I started to tell myself this may be a bad idea because everyone would have forgotten him by now, but then Vin and Draco38 proved me wrong a few days later and made me think again.**

**I also wasn't sure if last year's crossover with the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett was good move or not, but it's part of the canon of my stories now so I intend to work with it, without overdoing it. Another good reason to bring back the Psychic Spider is the name Dylan the Third appeals to me because of its similarity to Luptin the Third, from the anime movie Castle of Cagliostro.**

**Thanks again for reading guys and gals, Marty :D**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

There were two people standing on the rear deck of the largest oil tanker ever constructed, but the early morning light barely illuminated their faces. Sarah Spencer drew no pleasure from the bright yellow/orange hues in the sparse cirrus clouds overhead. The beautiful early morning display was no match for the disturbing sight of several small boats being launched from Neville Sage's attack fleet.

"Everything ready?" she asked the man beside her.

"Yes Doctor" Fariz Amran replied "All the weapons between here to the Railguns main ramp have been removed and hidden."

"Good; I don't want Sage to get his hands on them" Sarah nodded.

"If I know Sage, he already has more than enough armament to take over this place" an unexpected third voice declared.

"April! What are you doing here?"

Sarah and Fariz were both surprised to see April Diaz walking out of the nearest door with her new baby in her arms.

"Are you kidding? There is no way I'm gonna just sit on my butt back at base and fret about what is going on down here. Better to face Sage now than wait and worry" April noted.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to have the baby here?" Fariz asked.

"After what happened sixteen years ago with Blue, I don't let any of my kids out of my sight till they can walk."

"Really?" Sarah was not sure if this was exaggerating or not.

"Oh yes; Abigail and Saffron went everywhere with me on Mars no matter what Olive Roux and the Leadership Council had to say."

"Have you thought of a name for her yet?" Sarah asked.

"I have to talk to Luis first, but I'm thinking Rose Talon Dias."

"Rose Talon" Sarah thought "I think Olive Roux would be pleased to know her son was being remembered in this way."

"I know it sounds a bit odd, but just imagine if Olive had named her son Thorn instead of Talon; my daughter would have been Rose Thorn" April smiled.

"Never, and I mean never make that joke again" Sarah ordered while trying to wipe the smirk off her face.

The baby reminded Fariz of his own granddaughter and he found it hard to look away from the sleeping bundle. But there were more pressing matters at hand and when he managed to take a glance out to sea, he knew the time had come to leave their viewing point.

"Here they come; let's get down to the dock" he suggested.

After a long walk down through the ships lower deck, the trio plus one took a small electric vehicle all the way to the open bow of the ship before walking down the ramp to the beach. The first few boats were just tying up at the small dock and armed raiders were already advancing towards the shore. The man leading them raised his pistol when he saw the approaching people but quickly lowered it again when he noticed he was pointing the deadly weapon at a woman carrying a baby.

"Guns down but eyes open" the man told the men behind him.

"Giving orders? You must be the guy in charge of this group" April acknowledged.

"Carson Rake ma'am" the man nodded.

"I see you lead from the front" April smirked "Unlike Sage who would rather hold back until the coast is clear.

"Don't think for a minute you'll be able to try and turn me against General Sage Doctor Spencer; yes we're here to secure the area, but the General is no coward. The lives of my friends and family depend on what happens here and General Sage is the only person who can tell us if you have our best interests at heart or not."

"Fair enough but I'm not Doctor Spencer; that honour goes to this pretty lady to my left. I am April Dias and the gentleman to my right is Fariz Amran."

"Dias? Yes I've heard about you" Rake said looking down over his nose.

"Nothing good I'm sure" April nodded.

"No but as I said, I'm here to secure the area so if there are any more of your people nearby, I strongly suggest you tell me now before there are any unfortunate incidents."

"There are a few people working on the ship, but they are unarmed and just getting ready for your eventual space shot" Sarah said stepping forward.

"Perhaps you could... shall we say... introduce me to them?" Rake asked in a way that said it would be unwise to refuse his request.

"Fariz, would you mind?" Sarah asked.

"Certainly Doctor Spencer; this way gentlemen" Fariz Amran invited.

Before leaving, Rake turned back to where the boats were being secured and called out.

"WE'RE GOING TO SECURE THE SHIP COLONEL!"

The leader of the men from the second boat nodded and waved to give the okay. As one group of armed raider departed along the dock, the second soon approached.

"Colonel Joshua Cook" the leader introduced himself politely so Sarah and April did likewise.

"Beautiful baby" the Colonel smiled warmly.

"Thank you and she is very special" April nodded.

"How so ma'am?" Cook asked.

"She is the only one of my four children Sage has not tried to murder... yet."

This snide remark left a sour taste in Cook's mouth and a sour look on his face.

"I can assure you ma'am that we are here only to get an important job done; not to cause trouble and certainly not to murder anyone."

"We'll see" April gave a not so friendly smile "I can believe you but you have to remember this; I know Sage too well."

"Nice try ma'am" Cook sneered and removed the radio from his belt. "We have the area secured sir; you may begin your landing."

"Will Professor Adisa and the other prisoners be coming ashore now?" Sarah asked, knowing they would not.

"General Sage did exactly what you requested. Adisa was released days ago with Captain Branson and Henry Dias; they are currently waiting for someone to retrieve them from Keriri Island in the Torres Straight."

Pretending she did not already know, Sarah dropped her shoulders and sighed.

"I'm not surprised" April stated "as I said, I know Sage very well indeed."

"Does your General have any objections to us sending a boat to pick them up?"

"I'm sure he will allow it... in time."

"If we cooperate" April smiled sweetly.

Cook did not answer but instead gave a similar false grin in return.

'

* * *

'

DeGroot felt good stepping onto the One and All again; and although he would never admit it, he like it even more knowing Captain Branson was not onboard. DeGroot had nothing against Reed Branson, but the ships true captain did tend to shout a lot.

"Good to see you again Mister Sumner" Blue smile and shook the older man's hand.

"Its Captain Sumner now" Haley nodded.

"Jack will do" he smiled "Good work finding them Haley; pity about the girls but at least now we have a lead."

"So what now Cap'n?" Haley asked.

"We send word to Sumatra; follow me."

Jack led the group past all the other sailors, happy to see their friends again, down into the hull and further down into the false tube keel. Being much bigger than the one installed on the Star Runner, everyone could stand upright without fear of cranial injury.

"Would you like to do the honours Miss Robinson?" Jack gestured towards the comms computer.

"With pleasure" Haley replied,

As soon as she had sat down she typed 'Capacitors at 70%' on the keyboard.

"This is our pass code" Haley explained "All ships departing from the Railgun Site are given one."

"Why do you need a pass code?" Blue asked.

At that very moment, a short sequence of numbers and letters appeared on the screen.

"That's why" Jack informed them "The fact that they sent those numbers instead of replying means something is wrong. My guess is Sage has arrived."

"First number is 5, so you're right there, the second is 17.2 but I can't remember what that means."

Checking his note book, Jack Sumner looked up the code number.

"Oh... that's good; 17 is help on the way, and the point 2 means two ships."

"Wow; and we hadn't even asked yet" Blue noted. "What's the last sequence?"

"27R-IP" Haley read out.

"RIP? I don't like the sound of that" DeGroot shivered.

Haley could not help but laugh at DeGroot's fear.

"R means request but adding IP just means If Possible" she told him.

"And 27 means they are wondering about you" Jack said.

As Blue watched, Haley began to type the reply 'A/m, B/f, C/m, D/f.'

"What on Earth does that mean?" DeGroot wondered.

"If it means what I think it means..." Blue started but wasn't sure.

"Come on smart boy" Haley smiled "Tell me what you think it means."

"A B C and D must be the four you were looking for, so I'd assume 'f' means found and 'm' means... um... missing?"

"Oh you are good" Haley nodded.

DeGroot stared at the screen for a while before the penny dropped.

"Oh; Abigail, Blue, Calla and DeGroot" he stated the obvious.

"Well I suppose we'd better prepare to shove off again" Jack decided "We'll pick up some supplies while we're here, then we'll sail down the coast to pick up the others. We'd sent out several searchers to look for you."

Stepping out onto the aft deck once more, Blue looked over the small ship with a worried look on his face.

"Captain, what is the crew compliment of the One and All?"

"Twelve including myself; why?"

"I was just thinking, we don't know anything about the other two ships coming to help us. If they're roughly the same size as this ship, it means we'll have no more than forty people when we go to rescue Calla and Abigail; and I don't think that'll be enough."

"Try not to worry about it too much now" Jack reassured Blue "Best we wait and see, then make decisions about how to proceed."

"I guess you're right" Blue agreed but he still didn't feel any better.

While some of the crew took a walk up the cliff road to fetch some supplies, the rest spent the morning doing the kind of maintenance that was much easier to do while still tied to a dock. Up at the ship's bow, Haley had finished cleaning each sheet winch and was just starting to coil the ropes, when a familiar voice caught her attention.

"Excuse me miss, may I have a word?"

Haley turned and smiled at the familiar face.

"Hi Joe; if you're looking to earn more money, I've already given you all I had" she said.

"Well I was hoping to get more; coins like those really help in a place like this" Joe admitted.

"Yes I know" Haley agreed "They come in handy anywhere people survive on trade, but they're pretty useless in other places."

"Can I ask how you got 'em in the first place?" Joe asked.

"Yup; we pick up any that we find in our travels" Haley admitted while she continued her work "In abandoned cities and towns mostly."

"I was wondering... since you're planning to come back here some day... if I could... well... come along? I'm strong and I'd work to earn my passage."

"And maybe pick up a few coins at stops along the way" Haley added.

"That's what I was thinking Miss" Joe admitted.

Haley stopped what she was doing and walked down the port side of the ship where Joe stood on the dock.

"I'll talk to Captain Sumner if you wish but know this; our plans don't include going on any treasure hunts so if you come with us, you take your chances. You may find yourself in a place where coins can be found, but you might not. Have you looked closely at my leg?"

Haley grabbed a nearby rigging shroud to steady herself as she swung her right leg above the gunwale.

"The people that made this could have just given me a lump of wood, but instead they made complex drawings, built several prototypes, tested and retested my walking style and then machined this from some very precious and rare materials. That was when I realised they were just like me, but with better tech at hand. I come from a farming community just north of the old Mexico border and we didn't do much trading there either. If something was needed, we built it; and if something was broken, we fixed it. The friends of Captain Sumner may be smarter and have more resources at their disposal, but they too do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done and don't worry about having any favours returned."

"I think I see what you're saying" Joe nodded "If your Captain allows me to come along, I join the team. You all take care of me and I take care of you; no ledger kept."

"Pretty much" Haley nodded.

'

* * *

'

"Oww; I hate blisters" Calla declared as she put down her dining fork.

"We'll see about getting you some gloves for you tomorrow" one of the dinner crowd offered "Now tell us the rest of the story like you promised."

Gran may have wanted to paint the girls as selfish criminal types, but they had instead soon become minor celebrities. All around the mountain village, the people who had heard Abigail's previous talk about Mars and her adventures in space, had retold the story the following day, and now the girls found themselves surrounded by impatient listeners. Those who were not lucky enough to have a seat at the table, just stood nearby with their plates in their hands, eager to hear what Abigail and Calla had to say next.

"Now then... where were we?" Abigail wondered as she finished the last portion of her dinner.

"The ship; you'd just seen the ship" a voice behind her stated urgently.

Everyone there knew they only had a limited amount of time until Gran ordered the girls locked up for the night, so they were eager to get started.

"Ah yes; we had discovered the ship on the shores of West Sumatra" Abigail said, clearly enjoying herself. "Now this ship was where my brother was born, but when he was only a few hours old, a radio message warned the Earth First Alliance was about to attack and sink the ship."

"Why?" Someone asked.

"It was full of equipment for the Railgun Project. When that ship reached its destination, Professor Adisa and his crew would be able to extend the Railgun, enabling them to launch humans into space, and not just cargo. The big secret my mom April and the Professor did not know, was that Prime Governor Redding and the Mars Deep Council did not want the Railgun extended; they did not want more people sent to Mars."

"Why?" the same person asked and was pushed to the back by listeners who did not want to be side tracked.

"You have to remember everyone, I don't know all the reasons but it seemed to be part of a plan to keep Mars base small, so the people could be controlled more easily. Redding still needed to get the Professor and his team transported to Sumatra, so they could use the Railgun to launch supplies and tech to Mars Base One because it was partially complete. But at the same time, he needed to get my Mom off the ship so he could send her to Mars. While he wanted all the people in the right place to do their jobs, he did not want the ship to reach its destination."

"But it did" someone noted.

"Yes but we don't know how. Redding sent a helicopter to take Mom back to the United States so she could be on the next rocket to go off planet, but with an Earth First Alliance attack Drone approaching fast, she did not think it was safe. The military men sent to get her had their orders and insisted she go with them; so Mom made the awful decision to leave my brother behind on the ship. That way if her helicopter were to be shot down, at least he would survive."

Abigail leant back in her seat and took a drink of water but the waiting crowd did not care about her dry throat.

"But what happened next?" they urged her to go on.

"Acting under orders from Redding, the military faked the destruction of Mom's helicopter so Professor Adisa would think she had died. Then he and his team were evacuated to Sumatra and sealed inside the Railgun Complex for the next fifteen years; and all this time my brother was still with them. When Mom arrived in the US, she was told the ship had been sunk by the Earth First Alliance and everyone was dead; then she was sedated and taken off planet."

"And the ship?" they pushed for more information.

"It just disappeared; Redding sent forces to sink it but they lost it. We don't know for sure, but chances are the captain decided to leave his assigned course after all the trouble, and head south to avoid any more risk. In the end the Railgun Complex was sealed, Mom and about twenty other people took the last ship to Mars, and Redding assumed the ship was lost. But in fact its captain and crew somehow managed to get it all the way across the Pacific and beach it in the right place."

"And there it sat for fifteen years until me and my Dad found it" Calla interjected.

"Yes and a few months later, we saw it from orbit and my Dad realised if the ship didn't sink, then my brother hadn't died" Abigail added "and that was why Sage tried to kill us; so the people of Mars would not learn the truth about why Mars Base was so small."

Just then, a tall shadow appeared behind the group and caught everyones attention.

"Yes yes, Sage is a bastard, we all know that; now get those girls locked up" Gran ordered.

"Sorry folks; more story tomorrow after dinner" Abigail smiled.

Back in their room, Calla lay on her bed thinking. Sometimes in the dark it was too easy to become overly stressed, but right now everything seemed to be going well for the girls. Although she would not let it show, Calla had constant case of butterflies before managing to pull off Blue's escape. Now it had been achieved she felt a new calm, but it was far from perfect. Every night Calla would think about ways to mentally survive her time in the mountains, telling herself it would not be forever; it would be many months, perhaps even years, but not forever.

'

* * *

'

**For some reason I am getting very frustrated. I so want to get back to writing this story but Snoggletog 2019 is only about half done. I think one more week (and a bit) and I should be finished. Fortunately I still have a dozen chapters of this one in reserve so they will still come out weekly.**

**Happy trails everyone :)**  
**_Marty_**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

He may have been dressed in a very ordinary way, but Neville Sage walked down the Railgun Complex entrance ramp in the manor of a flamboyant emperor entering a newly conquered city. Flanked by Carson Rake and Colonel Joshua Cook, Sage looked approvingly upon the armed guards he had ordered to be stationed there.

"Very good; let's proceed to my quarters" he ordered, beckoning the four wheel drives to pick him up for the trip down the main tunnel.

Sarah and April sat in the front of the lead vehicle allowing Sage to sit in the back and play the part of respected leader, which he intended to enjoy as much as possible. Even though on Mars, Sage was under the direct command of Premier Olive Roux, it had always bothered him that people like April Diaz were considered to be of higher rank than he. His only consolation was that he outranked her husband Luis and daughter Abigail when they were on the Mars Transfer Vehicle.

Sarah had organised the best room for Sage close to her office, where he could keep a close eye on her and bark out as many orders as he needed to feel important. Of course he sneered at what he had been given, even though it was the best thing he'd seen since crash landing back on Earth. Just like Sarah's, this room had a large outer office where Sage could intimidate people from the comfort of own home.

"I must admit Mrs. Diaz, I was surprised to see you here; what made you to decide coming to Earth was a good idea?" Sage asked.

There was no doubt about it; Sage was still very good at intimidation. He made sure April and Sarah sat with their backs to the door while Rake and Cook sat opposite them. To make things worse, Sage kept walking around behind them.

"Several reasons, and one of the main ones was to help Sarah get you and your... friends back to Mars; that way we can get back to building our own colony in the Asteroid belt."

"So you did this for me" Sage pretended to be sweet "How good of you; now when do I get to leave?"

No matter how hard she tried, Sarah found it hard not to feel nervous.

"Well um... the extension work being done on the Railgun is coming along nicely..."

"WHY DO I HAVE TO WAIT?" Sage shouted as he thumped his fist on the back a table "You sent that shuttle into space to save Diaz's husband and kid, so why can't we leave now?"

"That shuttle had to be stripped down to the bare bones to get it into orbit" Sarah explained "And even then we could only send the two children to keep the weight down; I was originally meant to go but the added acceleration needed would have killed us all. If you want to send multiple capsules with your entire army and all the supplies they'll require, then we need to have enough length in the Railgun to get them up to speed without killing anyone. Blue and Calla still passed out from the high G-Forces they had to endure, so I'm sorry but you really need to wait till it's finished."

"How long?" Sage asked.

"Four months" Sarah replied bluntly.

Sage face turned red with rage.

"FOUR MONTHS; YOU THINK I'M GOING TO WAIT FOUR DAMN MONTHS?"

"Err... but you are much safer down here than you were on the surface; we've survived a number of meteorites in the last sixteen years and..."

"I don't care about that, I just want to get back to Mars and make certain people pay the price for trying to kill me" Sage fumed.

"Sorry but you're too late" April interjected "The man who tried to kill you was murdered by the Deep Council."

"Klein is dead?" Sage pondered.

"Yes, both him and Topolski; the Deep Council were worried they might start giving away the council members identities."

To everyones surprise, Sage roared with anger and kicked a chair up against the wall.

"DAMN IT; I NEEDED HIM TO FIND OUT WHO WAS ON THE COUNCIL!"

"Well you don't need to worry about that either" April told the angry man "because the Deep Council has been deposed. They tried to have me killed with an arranged accident when I left Mars, but they totally stuffed it up and ended up killing Talon Descott instead, along with Marshal Baron."

Sage calmed down a little and started to pace back and forth.

"Ah... so that's what happened to Prime Governor Redding's grandson. When he ordered the execution of the Earth bound members of the Deep Council, his wild ranting made it difficult to work out what had gone wrong. I knew Talon was dead but... yes it all makes sense now. So who gave the Council Members away? It could only have been Gretel Descott?"

"Yes; as soon as her son's ship was destroyed, she calmly got onto the base intercom and recited the names of every single Deep Council member before anyone could stop her. Olive Roux told me Gretel then tried to walk out of an airlock onto the surface of Mars without a pressure suit, but they managed to stop her."

"Well then, that is good news; now I don't have to worry about tracking them all down" Sage actually smiled "All I need to do is walk in and take over; an easy job when you're side is the only one with guns."

'

* * *

'

Several months had passed since the Dream Chaser shuttle had made its emergency landing in California, and Abigail had slowly become more accustomed to the very different lifestyle forced upon her on Earth. She no longer noticed the stronger gravity, or the different temperatures and aromas she would encounter from day to day. Indeed she now realised how constant and sterile living on Mars had really been. With Blue now gone, Calla had taken it on herself to assume a protective role over the young man's sister, making sure nothing and no one put excessive pressure on her; but this was now increasingly becoming unnecessary. Even so, Gran decided it may be best to first approach Calla with some of her concerns about Abigail, so when the young girl returned to camp with her escorts after collecting firewood, she was taken aside for a talk.

"Everyone seems to enjoy listening to the stories you girls are telling after dinner" Gran noted.

"Yeah well... real life adventures are more entertaining than chatting about the day's work followed by a discussion about tomorrows chores" Calla shrugged.

"Indeed..." Gran nodded being oddly agreeable "...but a normal boring life certainly brings with it far less chance of unexpected death or injury; what I'm saying is... dull can be healthy."

"Sorry but I'd dispute that assumption" Calla argued "Before my family left New Zealand, the normal boring parts of our lives could often be punctuated with moments of extreme peril. You may not be as safe here are you think you are."

Calla thought this comment would bring a reply of anger from Gran, but she just shook her head and chuckled.

"There are so many things you do not know my dear. Believe me, we are quite safe here... within reason of course. I was wondering though, if you little friend could... shall we say... lighten up a bit on stories about Neville Sage."

"What... why? These aren't stories about Sage, they're Abigail's recollections of what happened; what she went through. Sage is only in the stories because of the part he played."

"Well I believe the thought of him being out there somewhere, is making people nervous and I for one would feel better not hearing his name bantered about every night."

Without waiting for a reply, Gran turned and walked back to the out buildings. Calla frowned as she thought about what she had been told. It seemed to her that Gran was the only person truly worried about Sage and although Calla felt she was being a bit vindictive, she did not feel inclined to do her captor any favours.

Gran could feel her heart racing as she walked back towards the tunnel. A few people tried to talk with her but she just waved them off, saying she would catch up with them later. Back in her room, she locked the door and went to her bedroom. Sitting down near her pillow, the let her head drop into her hands as she took a few deep breaths. Eventually all courage left her and she reached down and opened the bottom draw of her bedside table. Hidden at the back behind some clothes was an ornate box. The inside was lined with red felt and contained a good sized glass bottle and two small glasses. The bottle was filled with a clear liquid that had showed a slight blue tinge when held up to a white light. Removing the stopper, Gran filled one of the glasses to the brim before throwing the drink down her throat.

Across the room from where she sat was an old dressing table with a mirror on the top, but Gran could not bring herself to lift her head and look into it; she felt too ashamed.

That evening after dinner, the new tradition of gathering around Abigail and Calla continued. Every last person was mesmerised as they listened to the story of how Sage released the clamps holding the nose capsule of the Mars Transfer Vehicle to the main body of the ship, setting Abigail and her father adrift in space. After Calla had interrupted to insist the ship be referred to as the Star Cruiser in future, Abigail went on to tell of the near decompression they suffered, until the rear hatch had been slammed shut only a split second later. There were gasps of near terror as she described the damage done to her eyes, and told of her father bandaging her face and fitting her space suit. The part where Luis and Abigail managed to make radio contact with the Railgun Complex lifted everyone's spirits, but there wasn't a dry eye in the room when she described how it felt to learn that her older brother was still alive, and to talk with him for the first time.

Calla took over the story and told the crowd of Blues plan to use a Dream Chaser mini shuttle as a rescue craft, and his determination to get it ready in time to save his family.

"It wasn't easy; even though they knew there were a few shuttles in the belly of the giant ship, nobody had any idea where they were, so it was a race against time to get all the other equipment out of the ship and find one."

"But you obviously found it in the end" Eric stated a little cynically.

"Yes but they we discovered other problems" Calla continued "Because the Railgun had not yet been extended, the rate of acceleration needed to get it up to speed was far too great; and anyone attempting to launch that way would almost definitely die. The answer was to cut out as much weight s possible because the lighter the craft the more added speed it would gain from its booster rocket. We spent days trying to get the weight down far enough but in the end it was still too heavy."

"So you removed a bit more and just made it" Eric sighed.

No one was sure why, but Eric was in a particularly bad mood that evening. Normally he would be just as engrossed as all the others.

"Err... actually, the engineers had already gone as far as they dare; internal panels had been removed exposing the wires and plumbing, most seats were gone and the ones left had been slightly butchered, even the internal frame structure had over a hundred holes drilled into it to reduce mass. In the end everyone thought they had failed because the only choice left was to remove one of the two crew members, but the rescue plan needed them both. This was why I took the place of Doctor Spencer; at the time I was thirteen and less than half her weight."

"You are rather skinny" Eric sneered.

Doing her best to ignore the remark, Calla went on to describe as much of the launch as she could remember, before she and Blue has blacked out due to the excessive acceleration. The details of the rescue itself kept everyone on the edges of their seats, if they were lucky enough to have a seat. Abigail and Calla shared the narrative as they told of the rendezvous and accidental collision, the air leak on the docking seal, Luis's near asphyxiation and the inventive use of an inflatable life raft to help reseal the shuttle's hatch.

When they finally reached this point of the story, Calla suddenly realise they had been talking for much longer than usual. Normally Gran would have called an end to the proceedings by now and had the girls removed from the dining area. She was not the only one to have noticed Gran's absence, but Eric was the first one to act on it.

"Okay everyone, times up; you've all got a busy day tomorrow" he said as he stood.

There was a slight murmur of disappointment from a majority of the crowd, who had been quite enjoying themselves.

"Oliver, do me a favour and get these two locked up for the night, and take a few Gate Guards with you. I think Stan and I better check on Gran" Eric decided.

"Give Phyllis my love" Calla said with a mocking smile.

Doing his best to ignore the young lady, Eric and Stan made their way through the tunnels to Gran's door and found it locked from the inside.

"Gran... Gran are you there?" Eric enquired while knocking firmly.

There was no answer at first but they did hear sounds of movement coming from within. A few seconds later they heard something metal crash to the floor; it rattle loudly as it bounced across the room. Gran tried but failed to manipulate the lock, until eventually the goal was achieved and the door swung in. As he had expected, Eric found himself looking into the bloodshot eyes of a very intoxicated Phyllis 'Gran' Lindstrom.

"Yeth... you want thumpthing?" she slurred.

Eric could not help looking very disappointed but before he had the chance to do or say anything, Gran noticed the man standing behind Eric and her neutral visage turned instantly to one of complete horror.

AAAARRGH... SAGE! She cried out in panic.

Gran drew back her arm and carelessly hurled the near empty bottle in her hand into the dark outer tunnel. Eric ducked down to the right as the missile flew passed his left ear, but Stan was not so lucky and it bounced off the center of his forehead.

'

* * *

'

Marion Green caught the rope tossed down to the small lifeboat and tied it to the bag containing her rifle and ghillie suit. As it was raised up to the One and All, two hooks were lowered for her to attach to the boat fore and aft. With her task done, Marion climbed the rope ladder to the deck and was surprised to find a rather tall and bulky man waiting on the forward block.

"Ready?" he asked when Marion had grabbed the rope attached to the stern block.

"Haul away" she responded and together, they pulled on the ropes and lifted the small boat back on board.

The strange man proceeded to tie off and stow the boat's oars while Marion crouched to untie the rope from her bag.

"Welcome back."

Marion recognised the voice speaking from behind her as friend and crewmate Jose Garcia. She turned towards him and quietly asked the one question that had been bothering her.

"Who's the new guy?"

"Haley found him up the coast; apparently he's a bit of a treasure hunter."

"Oh... well I'd better report to Captain Sumner I suppose. While I was looking for clues, I met some other hunters who saw a huge vehicle southwest of here over a month ago; it could have been the Bull Ant."

"I dare say it was" Jose grinned "Considering the Captain is down below with Blue and DeGroot as we speak."

With half the crew already in their bunks and the rest on duty, the galley was left free for Captain Sumner to spread out his charts.

"It will be at least a week before we'll be able to make contact with the other ships coming to assist us" Jack noted "I think we should set course for Portugal; or possibly western Spain, and wait for them there."

"May I suggest the Faroe Islands?" DeGroot interrupted.

Blue and Jack Sumner looked at each other; they both knew what DeGroot was thinking.

"We are not going on a dragon hunting detour Mister DeGroot" Jack said sternly.

"Oh you misunderstand me Captain Sumner" DeGroot smiled disarmingly "The last time I was in the Faroe Islands, it's true I was looking for clues as to where the island of the dragons might be, but I also found there were several settlements dotted about the place. I simply thought we may find assistance there."

Jack did not believe the obsessed man, but decided to let it slide for now.

"Maybe so, but if the ships we're waiting for have to travel that far north, it will take an extra week or two before they get there and I don't think we should waste any time on covering any extra distance."

"As you say Captain" DeGroot nodded, apparently satisfied to concede.

With everything decided, Haley showed Blue to one of the tiny cabins where he could get some rest, while Jack Sumner went topside to set their course. Finally alone, DeGroot pick up a small satchel he had kept hidden and removed some very ancient charts of his own. Having chosen the one he wanted, DeGroot began to make a few disturbing calculations.

'

* * *

'

As expected, a few of the small dragon's friends did visit his island, but they were not the only ones. A few other breeds also turned up and made other areas on the island their new home. A few Smothering Smokebreaths made nests in the mountain caves, some Buffalord took up residence in the forest near the western beaches, and half a dozen Night Terrors moved into the same general area as the small greenish dragon's cave.

All this company made the dragon feel much more secure; if anything big and mean should turn up, he was pleased he would not have to face it alone.

'

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'

**Hello again everyone :D**

**Wow... long chapter this time.**

**Now the weather has become warmer it is much easier to write because I don't have to type with gloves on (yay). I wanted to thank Draco38 for the words of encouragement a few weeks ago, and Vin for your concern. Don't worry too much about my frustration, it's only because I can't write two stories at the same time. As for this years Snoggletog story, IT'S FINISHED! (yay 2); and it ended up being 19 chapters so I'll start pubishing it about the 5th of December.  
**

**Thanks again to all you cool dudes and dudettes for reading, and I'll be back soon; Marty.**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Cid Robinson was a man who felt on edge and rightfully so. He stood on the beach waiting patiently for Doctor Sarah Spencer who was at this moment going over manifests and giving orders inside the belly of the giant tanker ship towering above him. There were two things that made him jittery; one was thinking about his daughter Haley, thousands of miles away on the other side of the world, and the other was the armed men standing guard over Doctor Spencer as she worked. He did not know their faces, but he knew who they were. These men were part of a much larger group of raiders who had been stealing food and equipment from his former home town of El Centro California.

"I don't know Doc; I still get the shivers when I see them Raiders walking around like they own the place" Cid admitted on the ride back.

"Sorry... what was that?" Sarah said, looking up from her paper work.

"I was thinking... are you sure we're doing the right thing?"

Sarah let her head drop as she sighed.

"Please Cid; let's not go there again" she pleaded "I know it's not the perfect solution, but it really is the best chance we've got. Sage and the Raiders will be on their way to Mars in about a few months and if all goes well, Blue Calla and Abigail will be back by then and we'll be able to get back on track."

"Yeah maybe, but what about your friends on Mars?" Cid asked what Sarah did not want to consider.

"Look I know it's hard to do, but everyone is just going to have to trust me on this."

And so after that blunt declaration, Cid decided to drop the subject for now. Doctor Spencer was clearly upset by the line of conversation and although she tried to spend the rest of the journey going through her paperwork, she found it impossible to concentrate. Unfortunately things went from bad to worse when the pair drove down into the Railgun Complex. Waiting for them at the bottom of the ramp, Colonel Joshua Cook stood with more guards than he really needed, and they all looked very impatient.

"Sage wants to see you" Cook declared menacingly.

"Of course he does" Sarah shrugged "Can't he see we're doing our best? And things would go much quicker if he'd just let me get on with my work."

"NOW Doctor Spencer" Cook insisted.

"Now... yes" Sarah said in resignation.

Engineers, technicians and a few scientists leapt left and right, desperately trying to avoid being hit by one of the three electric carts racing through the corridors. Sarah almost fell out on a few of the sharper corners, but she did manage to keep her seat until they arrived at Sage's central headquarters.

'Inside!" Cook barked.

"Naturally" Sarah shrugged again.

Unlike all the previous times Sarah had been called to stand before the glory that is Neville Sage, the reason this time was not to intimidate her into working harder. Instead as she entered, Sarah found herself looking at a grotesque site. Tied to a chair in the centre of the room, one of her technicians sat and bled; he was covered with bruises and had one badly swollen eye. As soon as she saw him, Sarah came close to breaking down in tears.

"Oh Noodle... what did you do?"

"Your friend here has been causing great unrest" Sage stated as he strutted around the back of the beaten man's chair like a particularly violent peacock.

"Did he look at you in a funny way?"

Sarah bent down to untie the ropes holding her friend. Two guards moved to stop her but Sage just waved them away.

"I have been reliably informed by the guards in Clean Room 4 that this Buck Luttrell, whom to you refer to as 'Noodle', was overheard secretly discussing a covert plan you have to stop me from getting to Mars."

"WHAT? There's no plan to... oh Noodle, what did I tell you all before Sage arrived?" Sarah asked the bruised technician.

"Not to say anything that might anger him" Buck replied weakly as a small trickle of blood ran out of the corner of his mouth.

"Exactly; there is no secret plan and everyone knows it" Sarah insisted.

"But Doctor... we can't just..."

"We can and we will" Sarah snapped "If we don't, things like this will continue to happen... or worse."

"Tell me Doctor Spencer" Sage interrupted "How can I be sure you have my best interests at heart when rumours like this are going around the complex?"

"What rumours?" Sarah asked forlornly.

"This man was overheard talking about split fuel lines, toxic gasses... and incorrect trajectories."

"Oh come on Noodle..." Sarah threw up her hands in frustration "Where did all that come from?"

Buck dropped his head as Doctor Spencer started to wipe his face.

"I... I was just trying to work out what you may be doing... it was just speculation, I didn't think anyone could hear us."

"Us; there are more of you?" Sarah started to panic.

"I have three more of your people being held in the next room" Sage informed the Doctor "Fortunately for them, my spies tell me they were not very interested in what Mr. Luttrell was suggesting. But I'm not sure if I should release them... now they have been given ideas."

"Let me talk to them; I'm sure they're not going to try anything" Sarah begged.

Sage raised his head so he could look down his nose at the desperate woman. He thought for a moment before raising his two way radio to his lips.

"Let Doctor Spencer talk to the prisoners" he ordered.

"Thank you" she smiled with relief "I'll be right back Noodle... and for goodness sakes, be good."

"Yes Doctor" Buck nodded weakly.

Sarah's heart pounded as she left the room. Things were not looking good and she knew it would take some fast talking and a few compensations to placate Sage and get everything back what was now considered normal. Her mind was racing with possibilities as she walked, and it caused her nothing but confusion; so before she entered the next room, she stopped and took a deep breath. After a few seconds, she reached out for the door knob but before her fingers could make contact, the crack of gunfire rang out from the room she had just left.

Sarah froze on the spot until her arm started to shake. Unable to hold her composure any longer, she sank to her knees and began to sob.

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"Hold still" Abigail ordered as she un-wrapped the bandage on Stan's forehead.

"OWW! Why isn't this being done by one of the medics?" Stanley complained.

"I am one of the medics now" Abigail replied "I was drafted into their ranks because of all the latest injuries."

"And whose fault is that?" Stan said mockingly "Gran only started pushing us to learn hand to hand combat because of you and your stories."

Abigail glared at the injured man.

"Don't blame me for Gran's paranoia; the chances of Neville Sage ever making his way here must be a million to one" she declared sternly.

Stanley gave another loud cry as Abigail cleaned his wound with a mix of water and alcohol.

"Okay... so it stings a bit; do you need to be such a baby about it?" Abigail noted.

"Actually, it stings a lot. It's been a few days since I got hit with the bottle, so shouldn't it be starting to heal by now?" Stan enquired.

"Maybe it would if you wouldn't insist on scratching it all the time" Abigail replied.

"But it itches" came the forlorn reply.

With the wound cleaned and a fresh bandage applied, Abigail followed Stanley out of the infirmary where her two escorts waited by the door.

"Okay guys; where too now?" she sighed.

"Gran says there are a few minor cuts for you to attend to on the south wall" one of them said.

Abigail had always thought the fortifications across the southern pass were quite formidable, but lately Gran had decided the wall designed to keep everyone safe from wandering animals was nowhere near enough to fend off any force trained and led by Neville Sage. Materials for the increased fortification were freely available from the massive piles of rock and timber that had only lately buried the tunnel entrance, and were now slowly being raised into a wall near impossible to penetrate.

On her way over, Abigail was pleased to see Calla and her guards going in the opposite directions with their wheelbarrows, on their way to collect more material. Calla smiled back when Abigail waved but they were both soon reprimanded for their actions. It seemed Gran had finally lost patience with the girls and ordered them to be kept apart during the day so they could only catch up on the day's events when they were locked up in their room each night. They were even banned from eating with the rest of the population, and took each meal only with whoever was on guard duty at the time.

After being paired up with one of the senior medics, Abigail spent the rest of the day cleaning up scrapes and scratches until it was time for dinner. As she made her way across the top of the wall to a convenient ladder, Abigail was surprised to spot five people she had never seen before. The group consisted of a man, a woman and three young children and it appeared Gran and Eric were showing them around the outer compound.

"Who are they?" she asked one of her guards.

"New people; they arrived while you were changing Stan's bandages" he informed her.

"More kidnap victims?" Abigail said derisively.

"No" the guard replied tersely "They heard about how safe this place was and have asked if they can become part of our growing population."

"Three kids; Gran must love that" Abigail noted.

"They'll all make a good addition to the community."

"Tell me, what would have happened if they had all been an old couple, with no children?" Abigail wondered.

"There are enough adults here already" the guard said bluntly "Gran needs to think about the future of the settlement."

Of course, Abigail thought, that was why they did not take DeGroot; Gran only wanted the younger members of the Bull Ant crew. Looking at the parents as they walked across the compound, a thought came to mind.

"I wonder if those two people realise how lucky they are? It's only because Gran doesn't like to break up families, that they are allowed to stay. Otherwise she probably would have taken the kids and thrown their Mom and Dad out in the snow."

"Now don't you go making trouble with the newcomers... and tell your friend she better mind her own business too" the guard insisted.

Dinner that night was the usual lonely affair; Abigail missed those recent evenings when people would gather around to hear of her adventures. She hurried to finish her meal so she could get back to her room. The short period before lights out was the only time she had to talk with Calla, and being separated all day meant they always had much to talk about too. The guards even had to hurry to keep up as the young lady was keen to get back to her room and not waste the light.

"HEY! Where do you think you're going?" one of Abigail's escorts called out.

"Back to my room... or should I say my cell?"

"Not that way; you've been moved" the guard informed her.

"Moved? Why?"

"Well there are only two of you now your brother is gone" the guard said "And the new family need the bigger room."

When Abigail saw her new accommodation, she was quite shocked. Instead of her large space divided into rooms with hanging tarps was a tiny space with only two bunk beds inside.

"What happened to all our stuff?" she gasped.

"None of it was yours" the guard insisted.

"What are you talking about? We built some of that furniture ourselves" Abigail protested.

"With help from us and with our materials" the man argued.

"That's nothing but a load of bull. Calla and I worked hard to make that stuff... and we've done all we were told to do."

"What can I say" the man shrugged "It was all needed for the new family so you'll have to start again."

"So Gran can steal it all again? Next time you all get buried under a landslide, you can dig yourselves out."

Abigail sat down heavily on the lower bunk, intending to pout while waiting for Calla to get back. She realised there was no use in complaining about her new situation, for there was no chance at all Gran would ever listen to her.

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**It is so good to be back writing this story again, and I have something funny(ish) to tell you all.**

**My kitty, Boo Cat, is always bringing dead mice to the door (this is good as it keeps the area rodent free). A few days ago I heard her special "I've got something for you" meow, so I went to see what it was. To my surprise it was not a mouse, but a tatty old ripped mouse mat; too old to be put on my computer desk.**

**Makes me wonder what other rodent themed junk she may bring in the future (?)**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

In order to avoid running into any of Sage's ships, Doctor Spencer had advised the Star Runner to sail around the northern side of Java and up past Singapore before going on to the Nicobar Islands. Waiting for them in Galathea Bay was an odd looking sea tug; almost 90 meters long, and with a bow shaped like a puffin's beak.

"It's the Striker!" Reed Branson exclaimed.

The last time he had seen the sixty year old boat, she was in a sorry state of repair. The Striker was the biggest of the tug boats in Branson's refugee fleet back when they had arrived at the West Sumatra Railgun Complex. Its job had been to tow one of the larger vessels containing the fleet's portable bio-oil refinery but now, towering over the rear cargo platform, a massive bridge crane stood over a metal cradle.

"I like what they've done to it" Reed said to Emerson "But what is that on the rear deck?"

"Something they were working on when we left Sumatra to come and get you" Emerson replied "It's a cradle for the Star Runner."

"Clever... so now we head off to find the One and All as a single unit" Branson smiled.

"A bit safer and more comfortable as we cross the globe" Emerson agreed "The last message from you old ship said they were headed in the general direction of Portugal; so as soon as we're on board the Striker, we'll be on our way."

With his strength slowly returning, the memories of being Sage's prisoner gradually fading, and a new voyage ahead of him, Reed Branson finally began to feel like his old self again.

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After they first arrived back on Earth, April Dias did her best to keep Saffron close by her side, but it soon became clear it would be both impossible and unfair. The Railgun Complex and all the surrounding areas were now populated with many families and Saffron loved to spend much of her time with kids close to her own age. They would play together, eat together and learn together; except when the children were being taught about what they would encounter when living in space. As someone who had been born on a planet with a hostile atmosphere, and had also travelled extensively through space already, Saffron had decided to skip those lessons and do other things instead; like exploring.

On one of these expeditions, Saffron decided to see where her brother used to live and after making some enquiries, she was surprised to find out he had not been residing inside the Railgun Complex, but had moved into a cabin on the massive tanker ship beached many kilometres away. And so without telling her mother, who was sure to say no, Saffron hitched a ride to the coast on one of the trucks ferrying equipment back to the complex. Upon arriving, she had no trouble obtaining assistance from the people there and was soon climbing the internal stairs of the stern superstructure.

The door to Blue's cabin was shut but not locked and she was soon taking in the rather small surroundings.

"Ships... in space or at sea, they're all the same; cramped" she smiled to herself.

Climbing onto the chair next to the only window, Saffron finally got an idea of how high she really was. The view down the coast of West Sumatra was truly beautiful and the young girl hoped she would be able to see more of it someday. As she jumped from the chair, something odd caught her eye. On a small shelf over her brother's bed, was a large leather bound book.

"Wow... this sure is old... and heavy" Saffron gasped as she pulled it down from the shelf.

She placed the book on the floor in front of her as she sat down. Even before she had opened the cover, the book had her intrigued. First there was its size and weight, but there was so much more as well. Saffron recognised the rune lettering on the cover straight away, for she had seen something similar during her language lessons. Unfortunately she had never considered learning how to read it and had focused her past studies on modern European and Asian languages. One of the cover's most stunning features, was an embossed circle with the image of a sleek black dragon curved around the inside edge. The young girl stared at the creature with fascination as she ran her fingers around the image, feeling every feature of the frightening beast.

When she opened the front cover, Saffron was delighted to find a considerable number of her brothers study notes; including alphabetic instructions and examples of sentence structure. The top page of Blue's notes appeared to be a translation of the book's cover; the runes had been copied with the English words 'The Book of Gothi' written underneath. The image of the dragon had also been included along with its title, The Great Seal of Berk.

As Saffron read through more and more of the notes, she realised her brother had left everything she would need to teach herself the basics of this ancient language, and to discover the secrets held within. After spending over an hour pouring over this great treasure, Saffron gathered up all the loose note pages into the cover once more and started the long walk back to the bow of the ship, the heavy tome held close to her chest.

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The next morning, Calla and Abigail were both sent to the south wall to assist in its fortification. On their arrival, Calla was actually pleased to see Gran overseeing the project. She stood a few meters south of the main gate, sipping from a cup of piping hot soup while discussing the possibility of incorporating a hidden trap or two with some her more skilled builders.

"HEY! What's the big idea, moving me and Abby into a cell no bigger than a broom cupboard?" Calla cried out.

"Oh don't make a fuss" Gran said, not even bothering to turn around and face the young girl.

"Fuss? That's rich coming from someone who has three rooms all to herself" Calla sniffed.

"Give it time; we'll make it bigger eventually" Gran argued.

"So you can give it away to the next people to come along?" Calla accused "What'll you do with me and Abby next time; nail us up in a crate each night?"

Gran finally turned to face her accuser.

"You're just being melodramatic; your new room is perfectly comfortable."

"Well I beg to differ" Calla snorted "So how about pulling a few people off this totally unnecessary wall project and get 'em to start on our room? You still need to open up a second entrance to you tunnel system; or do you want to risk being buried again?"

"This wall..." Gran began but Calla interrupted.

"Is only being built because you're too stupid to realise that the last thing Sage would want to do now, is to come here just to annoy you. He works for himself now and wouldn't give the left leg off a dead Aardvark to see you again."

Gran tried to speak but Calla did not stop.

"No Phyllis... you're not too stupid, you're too scared. You think you can run this place, but you can't even keep your mind on what's important; food, shelter, survival. Get this through your thick skull; Sage isn't coming for you because he JUST... DOESN'T... CARE!"

And with that straw, the camel's back broke and for the second time in less than a week, Gran hurled what was in her hand at the person in front of her. But this time she was not intoxicated, this time she wasn't hallucinating about her feared enemy, this time she just wanted the girl to shut up because she did not want to face the truth in Calla's words.

Abigail could not help but grin broadly as she watched Gran storm off, too embarrassed to face the people who had heard the accusing rant from the wild teenager. She wasn't worried about Calla because the soup cup had missed her by several inches but when she turned back, Abigail noticed her friend had sunk to her knees and was holding the side of her head.

"MEDIC!" she cried out as she rushed to Calla's side.

As the cup had passed by, it's near boiling contents had covered the left side of Calla's head and neck. The painful burn stretched from behind her left eye, all the way to the back from just above her ear and down to her shoulder.

"Abby... it hurts... I can feel it burning..."

"Just relax... breath deep" Abigail tried to offer some comfort but there was little she could do until help arrived.

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Max DeGroot did not realise the One and All's captain had been watching him for the last few days, but it certainly came as no surprise when he was approached and questioned; for he had never been able to earn Jack Sumner's trust. As he approached, Sumner could see the odd man was once more studying one of his ancient maps.

"Your next shift is coming up" Jack informed him.

"Yes it would be about that time... I guess I'd better pack up all this up" DeGroot resigned calmly.

"Just what are you doing with those charts anyway?" Jack asked with suspicion.

"Oh nothing sinister Captain" DeGroot turned the map so Jack could see it "I like to refer to these maps every time I am in this part of the world. I never know when I might just manage to spot something that may relate to the past travels of the Dragon Riders. If I'm ever able to match just one island, outcrop, sea stack or section of coastline with a part of these charts, then I should be able to calculate the location of Berk on our more modern charts. "

"You do remember that we're headed for southeast Europe, don't you?" Jack said accusingly.

"Oh yes sir; that is why I put my hand up to take these late night shifts at the helm; it leaves my days free to scan the horizon and take notes."

"Alright then but listen closely" Jack leaned in "You may have done well recently helping the Dias children and Calla, but I still remember some of the stunts you pulled in the past over this dragon obsession. So if you ever go back to your old ways, I will take great delight in personally throwing you overboard. Do we understand each other?"

"I believe we do Captain" DeGroot gulped.

His heart was still beating faster than normal as he made his way to the rear deck to begin another spell at the helm. In spite of Jack Sumner's warning, DeGroot felt he may as well continue with his plan because he had already taken the ship so far off course, it was only a matter of time before he was caught. Therefore he figured he had nothing more to lose; and after all, in the end he just may succeed.

As soon as he had taken over from Jose Garcia, DeGroot produced a small piece of cellophane containing a wad of blue adhesive putty, out of his left chest pocket; embedded in this putty was a small magnet. As usual, the ship's compass showed the heading as ten degrees below due east. Being careful not to be seen, DeGroot placed his magnet under the north point of the compass, locking it in place. From his left vest pocket, the sly man then pulled out his own small compass before he turned the ships wheel ever so slightly to port. The ships compass continued to show the One and All on an easterly heading while DeGroot's own compass slowly turned to the north. The ship came about so gradually, no one on board noticed the course change.

DeGroot settled in for a night at the helm, hoping the clouds would continue to obscure the stars overhead. Meanwhile the One and All sailed on through the night; each passing minute taking her further and further off course.

**End of Act One**

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**Must be two months or more since I wrote this chapter and I'm so glad to see it published at last. The reason for this is when I first came up with the plan for the whole Return of the Dragons saga, the first story idea was part of Act Two which starts next week.**

**That was way back in 2014 but before I could write the next bit, I had to do Red Sky Rising first. At the time I didn't think it would take me five years to get here but... well... looks like it did (the 2017 heart attack didn't help either). But the good news is my health is way better and everything is falling into place story wise.**

**Thanks once more to all my readers, and to Vin and Draco38 for your encouraging notes.**

_**Till next week, Marty**_


	21. Chapter 21

Blue Sky Falling

Act 2

Chapter 21

Even thought the air was cool and fresh, the clouds were very few and far between. The patches of bright sun shine made it easy for the small yellowish green dragon to spot a good sized school of fish. He had travelled a long distance to find them and even though he knew he would have to fly all the way back home to eat his catch, he still chose to dive on the biggest, heaviest fish he could find.

Good fortune must have been smiling on the small dragon that day because as he struggled to lift his prey back into the air, he spotted an odd looking island moving through the water. He may have never seen anything like this before, but it did not look dangerous. And so he decided to take the opportunity to land and devour his catch before flying back home.

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"Hmmm" Jack Sumner thought as he stared through his binoculars.

He pondered the small island on the horizon for a few minutes before making his way down to the galley. He spread out the Atlantic chart and considered the course he had followed.

"Hmmm."

Taking into account the wind conditions they had encountered, along with the average speed of the One and All, the ship should be within an area some six hundred kilometres north of the Acores. If he was looking at the Island of Corvo, then he was so off course, his navigational skills could be said to be non-existent.

"It can't be Corvo Island... but if not... then what?" he said to himself.

As he continued to ponder the possibilities, Jose Garcia called down from the helm.

"Umm... Captain, I think you'd better come look at this."

"What now" Jack sighed.

Climbing the steps up to the rear deck, Jack Sumner looked up to see his helmsman staring forward with a very nervous look on his face. Following the man's gaze, Jack soon set eyes on the problem. Three other deck hands had also ceased work and were all backing away as they watched the odd sight. Sitting on the One and All's forward hatch was a yellowish green winged lizard, casually devouring a large fish.

It only took the ship's captain a few seconds to put two and two together and the answer that came out was somehow both strange yet totally expected.

"DEGROOT; GET UP HERE... NOW" Jack called down below deck.

The man Captain Sumner sought was not far away, it wasn't a very big ship. But he was down in the hidden sub-hull, chatting with Blue about his favourite subject.

"Oh dear... judging by the tone in our captains voice, I suspect I may in a bit of trouble" DeGroot noted.

"A bit? That's not like you" Blue smiled "You're usually in a lot of trouble."

"I fear you may be right m'boy."

The two men climbed out of the sub-hull and made their way topside.

"I don't know what Max has done, but please go easy on him Captain" Blue asked as he led the way up.

"Even though I strongly expect DeGroot of some foul play, what I need now is his supposed expertise. What is that... thing?" Jack pointed.

DeGroot was pleased to hear he had not yet been discovered, and heaved a sigh of relief as he turned to see what Captain Sumner was referring too. As the creature came into focus, DeGroot's eyes grew wide, his skin turned white, and he fell into a dead faint.

"Oh hell!" Jack exclaimed as he tried to catch the falling man.

Blue too was shocked to see the creature, but fortunately for all on board he knew exactly what it was.

"Captain... that... is a dragon...a Terrible Terror to be exact."

"Oh my Lord... I just don't believe it; you mean to tell me... that those things are real?" Jack gasped "I thought DeGroot was just a crazy old man."

"Should I get my rifle Captain" Jose asked.

"Yes" came the reply.

"NO!" Blue countered "Go get the leftover roast chicken out of the ice chest."

Jose just stood still for a few seconds to see what Captain Sumner would say next, but he was soon given a nod of approval.

"Roast chicken?" Jack questioned Blue.

"Supposed to be a favourite of Nadders but you never know; I may work on Terrors too."

"What do these... Terrors normally eat?" Jack couldn't believe he was asking these questions so seriously.

"Fish... but he's already got one of those" Blue replied.

Jack ordered the others on deck to keep their distance, and for the rest to stay below. A few had tried to come up on deck to see what all the fuss was about, but Jack did not want to spook the beast. It may have been small, but as far as he knew, Dragons could breathe fire and Jack did not want to burn the wooden One and All down to the waterline.

Up on the forward hatch, the small dragon contentedly continued with his meal while ignoring the odd looking creatures on the moving island. He had never seen anything like them before but if they tried to give him any trouble, they'd get exactly what the gulls got on the first island. As he finished up the last of the fish, he heard a soft voice behind him. His head spun around quickly to see one of the strange creatures approaching him, walking on its back legs.

In its front paws it held a thin white circle with what appeared to be something edible. Being one of the only creatures on the planet who could cook its own food, the dragon recognised the aroma coming from the plate as that of a roasted bird. The boy sat down nearby and began to eat his food but after he had taken one bite, he held out a piece and offered it to the dragon. Even though he knew it could be some kind of trap, the tall creature looked like it could be easily overpowered with a quick fireball; also the roast bird smelled delicious.

Rising to its feet, the dragon advanced cautiously towards the offered morsel, sniffed at it and then snatched it away. For many animals, food is food and that is the end of it; but for a dragon, tastes and texture can make or break a meal. All the birds the dragon had roasted for himself in the past had been black and crispy on the outside, while being raw on the inside. This bird however had been cooked all the way through and it made for a most tender and satisfying taste. The dragon knew nothing about herbs and spices, but he knew what he liked and he absolutely loved this.

Some of the larger dragons, like the Monstrous Nightmare for example, could be quite rude and would simply use their size and strength to take whatever they wanted. Most though, like Gronckles, Razorwhips and Nadders were social creatures and would respect the right of another dragon to freely consume the food it had obtained. Terrors fell neatly into the second category and so rather than try to take the rest of this tasty treat, the dragon simply sat down in front of Blue in the hope that this kind creature may share a little more of its lunch with him.

"Here you are little guy" Blue said as he offered up some more chicken.

The dragon accepted each piece with joy, relishing the flavour in every bite. When the last of the food had been consumed, Blue held out his hand for the dragon. He knew cats liked to sniff at new people, so he thought perhaps this little creature would too. The dragon did take advantage of the opportunity and then to everyones surprise, it scurried up Blue's arm and sat on his shoulder.

"Whoa you are a friendly little dude" Blue smiled and scratched the dragon under its chin.

The beast half purred and half growled as Blue rose to his feet and took a few steps back to the stern.

"Let's see if we can all make friends with him... but slowly and one at a time" Blue suggested.

"Me first" Haley insisted as she leapt up from the stern steps.

"Okay but easy... let me come to you" Blue insisted.

Haley stood out in front of the others on deck as Blue slowly made his way towards her, talking to the creature at all times.

"Hey little guy... this is Haley... she's my friend... I'm sure you'll like her."

The dragon leaned forward and sniffed the air near the girl; it wasn't sure why but she had the aroma of flowers. Haley put her hand out, bringing it closer to the dragon and to her delight, it gave her hand one sniff before rubbing its cheek against the back of her fingers.

"Oh wow... he's gorgeous" she beamed.

The entire crew spent the next several minutes taking turns to approach the odd creature. For his part, the dragon just continued to sit on Blue's shoulder with a look of curiosity and fascination on its face. Some of the people it encountered seemed very pleased to see him while others looked a little nervous, but all the while the dragon actually seemed to be pleased with all the attention it was getting.

A few minutes later, feeling both calm and curious, the little dragon jumped off Blue's shoulder and began to scamper around the deck, sniffing as it went. Near the stern of the ship it found two things of great interest; an unconscious man and the mouth of a cave. It soon lost interest in the man and decided to explore the cave.

"Hey, where are you going?" Jack protested.

"It's okay Captain" Blue reassured him "I'm sure he just wants to look around."

"Well... okay but you go with him" Jack insisted.

Some of the people the dragon had just met topside were now sitting around the galley table excitedly discussing this new turn of events, and they were both surprised and pleased to see the dragon once again as it scampered around the ship. There were so many new sights, sounds and smells to be discovered and the crew delighted in watching the little creature stick its head in every nook and cranny below deck. The oddest thing about this cave was it appeared to be made entirely of tree; as indeed was the whole moving island.

Back up on deck, Captain Jack Sumner looked once more at the island ahead of him and wondered. In the past, before the One and All crew had come to Sumatra and met Blue's friends, DeGroot had made a big fuss about wanting to find the islands where dragons once lived; but he always said they were up near the Arctic Circle. So if this Terrible Terror had come from the same area, the island before him could not be Corvo, which was in the middle of the North Atlantic, over a thousand kilometres away. Jack considered the heading he had set upon their departure from Canada and looked down at the ships compass. Getting down on his knees, he studied the underside until he found what he was looking for; a small greasy mark made by some kind of adhesive putty.

Jack got back to his feet, grabbed a small bailing bucket from the helm and lowered it into the water by the attached rope. After retrieving it, he dashed the buckets contents into the face of the unconscious man lying before him.

"Get up DeGroot; you got some explaining to do."

,

* * *

,

**One and a half books, and Blue finally encounters a dragon... and about time ;D**

**Most of you will noticed this years Snoggletog story is being posted, but I'll still do my best to get this story out regularly too. Shoutouts to Vin and Draco, thanks guys (or gals, I just don't know) and I hope you like this chapter too.**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"Alright you lot, you've had your fun now get back to your posts" Captain Sumner said as firmly as he dare, not wanting to spook the small dragon running around below deck.

Like children being told not to open their Christmas presents early, the crew of the One and All whined as they started to disband. Jack then called back a few of his senior people, so they could talk over some very disturbing news.

"See if you can keep that little beast calm" Jack said to Blue as he spread out one of his charts on the galley table.

It took just a whistle to get the creature's attention and when Blue held out a piece of beef jerky, the dragon spread its wings and leapt onto the shoulder of its new friend.

"This is where we should be Jack said, indicating a central point in the North Atlantic.

"I assume you're saying we are not there" Haley noted.

"No; in fact we are over one thousand kilometres north of this point, but I'm not sure of exactly where yet" Jack admitted.

"But how could this happen?" Blue wondered.

"Two things" Jack informed them "Maximilian DeGroot, and this."

Everyone looked on with confusion when Jack tossed a small blue wad onto the table, until he explained what it was.

"There's a magnet inside; ever since we set sail, DeGroot has been pulling a split double shift at the helm taking three hours as the sun set, and then doing another shift before sunrise. He volunteered to do this so he could change the ship's course each night by putting this magnet under the north point on the compass. On his second shift, DeGroot would put us back on course before the sun appeared so we would be none the wiser."

"But couldn't we have known about the course change by the Moon and the stars?" Marion Green asked.

"Yes... but that is my fault" Jack admitted "I was content just to keep an eye on our speed and heading to keep track of our position; I won't make that mistake again."

"So where are we then?" Jose pondered the map.

"As best I can calculate from the information I've extracted from DeGroot, we're somewhere between Greenland and Norway, northeast of Iceland."

Blue lowered his head and leant forward with his fists on the table. Everyone noticed how he began to breath in slowly before emptying his lungs with an audible huff. Suddenly his right fist rose and punched the table as Blue showed an anger like he had never displayed before.

"I'll kill him... I'LL BLOODY WELL KILL HIM!"

Putting the confused dragon down on the floor, Blue took off up the stairs after DeGroot with the others hot on his tail.

"YOU BASTARD!" Blue cried out "YOU KNEW HOW MUCH ABBY AND CALLA WERE RELYING ON US. WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO GO OFF ON ONE OF YOUR LITTLE ADVENTURES."

Captain Sumner had once threatened to throw DeGroot overboard, but it would have been Blue who had finally done it if the others had not caught him before he had the chance.

"I... I'm sorry... but I was sure this was the right time to..." DeGroot begged.

"THE RIGHT TIME IS WHEN WE HAVE GOTTEN ABIGAIL AND CALLA OUT OF THAT PRISON, AND BACK WITH US SAFE AND SOUND!" Blue declared.

With Marion and Jose holding his arms, Jack Sumner tried his best to talk some sense into the angry young man, but it took a lot of doing.

"It's okay Blue; I'll make contact with the other ships and tell them to proceed straight to Canada. We'll go ashore on the island ahead to take on fresh water, and then make our way south again."

Blue thought about what the captain had said and although he was still more than a little upset, he decided to let the matter drop for now.

"I was really beginning to think I could trust you" he sneered at DeGroot.

Blue walked forward and stood at the foot of the bowsprit and stared at the approaching island. As his rage slowly subsided, he heard an inquisitive growlish chirp and turned to see the dragon once more sitting on the forward hatch. He little creature actually seemed to be concerned about his new friend and appeared to be offering comfort. Blue smiled at the winged beast and sat down beside it.

"Do you think I over reacted?" he asked.

In reply the dragon stood up, walked in two complete circles and then lay down with it head on Blue's lap.

"You're right... getting angry won't help at all" he nodded "You really are quite wise for a lizard."

The dragon purred as Blue scratched its snout but suddenly it sneezed, sending a small fireball shooting away over the ships starboard bow.

"Whoa... I'm glad you weren't facing towards anything important, you little firefly."

Blue looked down at the resting dragon and wondered about what he had just said.

"Hmm... Firefly... Does that sound like a good name to you?"

The dragon did not answer, it only yawned leaving Blue to decide if the beast was not going to object, then it must find the name Firefly to be quite acceptable.

'

* * *

'

Having found some protection from any possible bad weather in a small cove, the crew of the One and All lowered one of the boats and prepared to go ashore. The captain decided to take Blue, Haley and Jose with him on the first scouting trip to see if they could find water. DeGroot was adamant that he should go too but would not give Jack a legitimate reason as to why, and so he was ordered to stay onboard. The only other passenger on the boat as it motored ashore was Blue's scaly little shadow. He sat up on the bow of the boat with the wind in his face, very excited about the excursion. No sooner had the bow touched the sand, when the dragon leapt off into the air, flying up to the top of the short cliff at the back of the beach.

"I think Firefly wants you to follow him" Haley declared as she stepped ashore.

"He certainly does look keen" Blue agreed.

The team pulled the boat up on shore and set the sand anchor before grabbing their backpacks and heading off. The dragon meanwhile had glided back down and was now sniffing out a way up the cliff for all those not fortunate enough to have wings. The path though steep, could easily be hiked up without the need of ropes or climbing axes and when they reached the top, the view gave the group a good idea of the lay of the land.

A meadow stretched out before them with the base of the islands central mountain visible some four or five kilometres inland. Without even bothering to discuss which way to go, the four explorers simply followed the dragon as it scampered through the grass and wild flowers. The island was quite beautiful and if felt so good to walk on solid ground again, so in a short time Blue began to feel conflicted. He was happy to be there, he was ecstatically pleased to have found a genuine dragon, but he was also worried about the time they had lost through their enforced detour. To put it mildly, DeGroot was definitely still on the young man's naughty list, and he didn't need to check it twice.

"Hey look at that" Haley declared, pointing up the hill.

"Yeah... that is definitely a road" Blue realised.

On one hand it was only some flat rocks on the path they were taking, but these rocks ran in a straight line and with a defined edge.

"It's quite narrow and was probably just used by small carts to take farm produce to a town" Haley noted.

"Yeah that meadow could easily been farmland in the past" Blue agreed.

"What on Earth are you two talking about" Jack shrugged "We're here to find water, not indulge in archaeology."

"Ah... but that is what we are doing Captain; working out the best place to find water" Haley smiled.

"You've lost me" Jack shrugged again.

"You see Captain, if there was a village here in the past, the two things they would have needed to survive were food and water. The road tells us the meadow we've just come from is a likely place for crops and farm animals, and so the village is probably at the other end. What's more, the best place to put a village is near a water source" Blue explained.

"Chances are good there's a stream fed by melting snow from the mountain top" Haley continued "We may be wrong but it's still a good place to start."

"Good heavens" Jack gasped "and you just... came up with all that now?"

"No..." Blue admitted "we were talking about it back on the ship while you were shouting orders at the crew about stowing sails, setting anchors, battening hatches and all that nautical stuff."

"So... there may... or may not be an ancient village near a water source at the other end of this road."

"Precisely Captain" Haley nodded.

"Hmm... I suppose we may as well find out then" Jack realised.

"And about time too; your little friend is getting rather impatient" Jose noted as the little dragon leapt about on the road ahead, trying to get everyones attention.

"Impatient little dude isn't he" Haley smiled as they resumed walking.

The ancient road constantly disappeared and reappeared as the group walked up a gentle slope. Sometimes the ground would rise up a little and leave the stone road long buried, and sometimes the team would have to walk through or around a wall of shrubs and bushes before finding it again. They walked for almost a quarter hour while Firefly continued to lead the way, getting more excited with each and every step.

"Hey... I wonder if this is it?" Haley wondered when she saw something else.

"Are they... walls?" Jose pondered the piled up stone ahead of them.

"I think they're foundations" Blue replied "They all have square corners and each one looks to be the size of a house. Chances are there were once wooden structures on them hundreds of years ago."

"I do believe you are correct" Jack agreed as he examined the nearest one.

"That one at the top of the hill looks way too big to be a house" Blue continued "It must have been some kind of communal..."

Everyone turned towards Blue, wondering why he had stopped mid sentence. Following his gaze, they all saw what had surprised him. Carved from the rock cliff face behind the ruins of the village was the visage of a huge Viking man, with a horned helmet and a long flowing beard with braded ends.

"Wow, that's impressive; I wonder who he is?" Haley mused.

"That... is Stoick the Vast: the last Chief of Berk to reign during the Dragon War, the first to reign during the time of the Dragon Riders, husband of Valka the scourge of the dragon hunters, and the father of Hiccup the Dragon Master himself" Blue informed them.

"You're kidding" Jack stated sceptically "How in the world could you possibly know all that?"

"Oh I've seen sketches of this carving in the ancient writings of Berk. There's a really good one in the Book of Gothi and another in the Ingerman Chronicles. It was made in the months following Stoicks tragic death; and that was about a thousand years ago."

"Wow... that is even more impressive" Haley noted.

Blue took a few steps further forward while trying to ignore the small dragon urging him to keep following it.

"This is incredible... DeGroot was right" he said to himself.

"Right to misdirect the ship" Jack said with clear disgust.

"No..." Blue clarified "about Berk. I must admit I didn't think it existed any more. I thought it was something like Atlantis; a place now resigned to being nothing more than a legend, lost in time."

"And you're sure this is it?" Haley checked.

"There is no doubt in my mind" Blue replied "Even after so many centuries, the carving looks just like the pictures and even the layout of the dwelling foundation stones, fits the layout of the first Berk village exactly."

"What do you mean the first?" Haley asked.

"Eventually the entire tribe was forced to abandon this island, so one day they just packed up and left; Vikings and Dragons both. According to Gothi's writings, they found a wonderful new home but had to say goodbye to their beloved dragons soon after. And ever since that day, the dragons became mere legends... but now..."

"Now they're back" Haley finished Blue's sentence.

"Indeed... well... one is anyway" Jack noted.

"I have a very strong feeling Firefly is not the only one here" Blue revealed "in fact I think I know where he wants us to go."

"Where?" Haley said impatiently

"To the former Dragon Arena that became the Dragon Academy; the place where the Hiccup the Dragon Master would teach the other Dragon Riders how to train their dragons."

"Are you just trying to see how many times you can legitimately put the word Dragon into a single sentence?" Haley smirked.

'

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'

**Wow publishing two stories at the same time is harder than I thought. Still, it's only till Christmas I suppose. So have fun jingling those bells everyone, and I'll be back with more of this story next week.**


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Firefly joyfully led the way, darting back and forth and playfully running in circles as the ships landing party made their way towards a massive rock overhang on the far side of the village. Every pile of fallen stone wall they passed on the way marked the spot where another Viking home had once stood. As he glanced over each one, Blue began to wish he could have seen Berk in the past, back when it was a vibrant village full of Vikings and Dragons. Soon he could see the circular depression of the arena and to his delight, Blue discovered he was right about Firefly having a few friends.

"RROOWRL."

The yellowish green dragon had climbed up on a fallen tree trunk and let out an odd cry. His call did not fail to gain attention as within a few seconds, several other Terrible Terrors had clambered out of holes, emerged from bushes or dropped down from the massive rock. Each and every one of them came a little closer to the group, but still kept their distance as they pondered the new creatures who had appeared amongst them.

Seeing their hesitation, Blue removed a few pieces of wrapped jerky he had in his shirt pocket.

"Hey... Firefly" he called out as he broke of a bite size piece.

The dragon had not yet learned his new name but he still turned at the sound of Blues voice to see the young man holding out the delicious smelling morsel of food. He jumped up and with two beats of his wings, flew over and landed lightly on Blue's left shoulder. Finding he was facing the wrong way, Firefly scampered around the back of Blue's neck to the other side. As soon as he had settled, Blue held up the jerky for the dragon to snatch from his fingers.

The other dragons watched with wonder as the tall, two legged boy gladly shared the small amount of food he possessed without being stingy or protective. After giving Firefly a second mouthful, he broke off a third piece and offered it to the nearest of the other dragons.

"Would you like to try some?" he asked as if he were talking to a toddler.

Blue dropped to one knee as the other dragon took a few steps closer. Although all the terrors looked very similar, there were some variants. The one cautiously moving forward was a tad bigger than Firefly: it had a light brownish body and tail with dusty red spine plates. A small patch of autumn leaf red colouring on the top of its head, gave the dragon the illusion of possessing hair.

"If you don't take it soon, I'll give it to Firefly."

It was almost as if the dragon understood as it scampered forward and sniffed at the jerky before taking out of Blue's hand. Having never tasted anything quite like it before, the dragon was impressed and looked up hoping for more.

"I hope you brought enough for all of them" Haley said as several more Terrors came closer.

"Only if they'll be satisfied with one piece each" Blue replied.

Deciding to get in on the fun, Haley stepped up and held out her hand.

"Can I have a bit?" she asked.

Blue handed over a strip which Haley proceeded to break into smaller pieces. Taking a step to the right, she squatted down and offered one to an approaching dragon. Having seen its friends being safely fed, this Terrible Terror did not hesitate to take what was offered and also found it to be very tasty. Soon all the dragons had come for their portions and in less than a minute, the jerky was all gone.

"Nothing left" Blue said to the small crowd and held out his hands for them all to see.

The dragon with the red patch on its head looked up at Firefly sitting on Blue's shoulder and decided it too wanted to have a pet human. Moving fast so no other dragon could claim her first, the determined Terror flew up and claimed its spot next to Haley's ear.

"Whoa... these little guys are really friendly" she gasped.

"Hey... you're a natural at this" Blue laughed as he rose up again.

"Are all dragons this friendly?" Jack wondered.

"I wish they were" Blue answered "But according to the Ingerman Chronicles, different dragon types have different personalities; there can even be individual differences within each breed. The Terrible Terror is one of the more affable dragons and was the second breed to be befriended by Hiccup Haddock."

Everyone in the group smiled when one of the other dragons walked up and sniffed at Haley's metal leg before licking it. Unfortunately for them, this entertaining sight kept them from noticing four more dragons circling overhead, and they had also noticed the prosthetic limb. Before anyone could react, one of these four have dived down and knocked Haley onto the ground. It was followed close behind by the other three and they all tried to steal away the leg.

"Oh no... Smokebreaths" Blue gasped.

Before he had the chance to fight back, every single Terror had leapt in and started to fight with the Smokebreaths. Being greatly outnumbered, the intruders soon gave up on their sought after prize and retreated as Terrible Terror fireballs exploded all around them.

"Are you okay?" Blue asked as he helped the young lady back to her feet.

"Yeah... I think so" she replied while checking her leg "There's a few light scratches, but otherwise it looks undamaged."

Blue turned to Jack and spoke with urgency.

"Captain, those were a breed of dragon known as Smothering Smokebreaths and they absolutely love metal. You have to contact the One and All, and tell them to be careful. The crew should immediately start to cover or remove all exposed metal on the ship. Things that can be removed should be taken below, and everything else must be covered."

"Covered with what?" Jack asked, somewhat stunned at the request.

"Anything; tarps, sails, dishcloths, old shirts... smaller things can be wrapped or covered with duct tape. As long as the Smokebreaths can't see any metal, we'll be okay."

"Right; I'm on it" Jack said, getting out his radio.

Haley sat down and removed her leg, scrutinising it closely for any damaged she may have missed. Relieved to find there was nothing drastically wrong, she replaced it while her dragon watched with intent curiosity.

"Hey Blue, with that little red patch on this dragons head, I'm thinking of calling it Ginger Nut."

"Hmm... yeah whatever" was his only reply.

Getting back onto her feet, Haley noticed Blue appeared to be deep in thought.

"What sinister evil are you planning?" she joked but Blue did not answer.

With Firefly still sitting contentedly on his shoulder, Blue sat down on a nearby log and held out his hand to one of the other Terrors. The little beast actually smiled as Blue lightly scratched its head before the dragon rubbed its face and neck on Blue's leg in a cat-like manor.

"Did you notice how quickly they moved to protect you?" Blue said at last "We didn't even have to ask... even though they wouldn't have understood if we did."

"Off course they did, we fed them... and we're really nice people" Haley smirked while rubbing Ginger Nut's chin.

"I think it's more than that. Fishlegs wrote extensively of how some dragon breeds are loners, while others form tribes or families; even symbiotic relationships with other breeds."

"What on Earth is a Fishlegs?" Jose gasped at the thought.

"Yeah some of the Dragon Riders did have funny names by todays standard" Blue smiled "Fishlegs Ingerman was probably one of the earliest biological scientists. His observations in the Ingerman Chronicles have taught me almost as much as the Book of Gothi."

"Well all this has been fun and very educational, but maybe it's time we started taking water back to the ship" Jack decided.

"Captain; if I may, I'd like you to consider a change to our plans" Blue asked "I think we should stay here for now."

"What are you thinking?" Jack asked "We have to rendezvous with the other ships and make plans to rescue Abigail and Calla."

"Exactly!" Blue declared "A difficult task that may have a better chance of success with a little help from some fire breathing allies."

Jack, Haley and Jose all looked at Blue as if he had just suggested forming a ballet company for a tour of Europe.

"You want to... use these Dragons... as an attack force?" Jack gasped.

"At the very least, I feel sure they would protect us when Gran's forces try to stop us from taking Calla and Abigail, but I'm sure they could easily be trained to do other things too. If you were one of Gran's guards, imagine how surprising and distracting it would be if little fireballs started flying over your head while you were trying to concentrate on repelling an attack. There is a risk they could shoot someone but I think the chances are low. I noticed they did not try to kill the Smokebreaths, they just drove them off."

Captain Sumner thought about the proposal for a moment before nodding his head.

"You know... I think you're right. If it works, gaining the help of these dragons would greatly increase our chances of success. Maybe the other ships should continue on to Canada and wait for us."

"Wouldn't it be better if they came here to meet the dragons" Haley asked.

"I think so" Blue agreed.

"I guess it would only add a week or two to our return time... and the advantages may be worth it" Jack nodded.

"Great; let's get to work" Blue grinned.

'

* * *

'

"WHERE IS SHE; WHERE'S THE GIRL!" Gran barked loudly.

"Oh... I'm sorry Ma'am... she must have snuck off while we were concentrating on installing this beam" one of Gran's workers said nervously.

"We didn't want to drop it" said another.

"But don't worry, we know where she is; she always goes to the same place so I'll go and..."

"YOU STAY HERE!" Gran shouted "I'll go and get her."

Having been told where to look, Gran stormed out of the building being repaired and marched deeper into the canyon. Eventually she saw who she sought, kneeling next to a mound of earth, flower in her hand and her hood pulled up over her head.

"Guilt getting the better of you?" Gran said with venom in her voice.

Without saying a word, Calla placed the flower onto the grave and rose to her feet.

"Just because I don't feel responsible for Nancy's death, doesn't mean I don't miss her" the young girl finally said.

"You're just trying to justify yourself" Gran accused.

Calla raised her eyes to the sky, but did not turn around.

"Isn't that what you are doing?" she said quietly so Gran could only just hear.

The furious woman turned bright red. Grabbing Calla by the jacket, she threw the young girl back in the direction of the town.

"JUST GET BACK TO WORK!" Gran sneered.

"Anything you say Phyllis" Calla replied.

'

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'

**Work is getting busy as we get closer to Christmas, so once again I'm glad I've got lots of chapters up my sleeve. All the kids will be on summer vacation soon so I'm sure I'll get even more written when that happens.**

**See you all next week, Marty**


	24. Chapter 24

**I stole a line from The Princess Bride for this chapter; see if you can find it ;)**

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Chapter 24

Doctor Sarah Spencer sat down heavily on her bed; she seemed to be doing that a lot lately. It had been yet another difficult day of preparations and training for the upcoming series of space shots the railgun would make in only several months time. She wasn't the only one feeling the pressure and that was one of the reasons she felt so frightened. If any of her people should tire of putting up with Sage and his Raiders, all the ill feeling between the two groups could escalate into something deadly; and she had to avoid such a scenario at all costs. She was tempted to ask Doctor Vieira for something to help her sleep, but she only had a few hours to rest and didn't want to be drowsy the next morning.

To make matters worse, before Sarah had a chance to put her head on the pillow, there was a knock at her door. With great effort, the exhausted woman pulled herself up and dragged her tired body across the room.

"Yes?" she yawned as she opened the door.

"Sage wants to see you" Joshua Cook informed her.

"Of course he does" she sighed "Why would he think I need to sleep for more than ten minutes a day?"

"Don't be smart Doctor Spencer" Cook sneered.

"Oh... sorry... did I offend your delicate sensibilities?"

"Just get moving" Cook stepped back to let Sarah by.

She found Sage sitting in his office with his legs crossed and the usual self-satisfied grin on his face. All he needed to complete the picture was a snow white Persian cat.

"Ah... Doctor Spencer; thank you for coming" he smiled his usual man in charge smile.

"Anything for you Sage" Sarah replied with obvious sarcasm.

"Doctor Spencer... is anything wrong? You look, to be perfectly frank, like you've just been run over by a herd of stampeding elephants."

"And one baby zebra" Sarah added "I'm just tired; so if we could just..."

"Yes of course" Sage rose to his feet and stared to pace "Now there is something that has been bothering me for a long time now."

"Really?" Sarah yawned again.

"Yes there really is. When my raiders and I are safely locked up in our capsules waiting to be shot out of your railgun, what's to stop you from doing something I would not like? Indeed I would not be surprised to learn you may have already considered doing something regrettable."

"Well I can guarantee you there are no plans to do anything... we have been through this before but it's hardly surprising you don't believe me."

"I don't" Sage's face turned to a scowl "But fortunately for both of us, I have thought of a way to keep you and your people in line during the crucial moment of our launch."

"Will I like it?" Sarah asked.

"Probably not; please come with me."

Sage led Sarah out of his office and down the corridor as two tall men followed them. She didn't know who they were but as soon as she saw the size of these ham handed brutes, Sarah imagined they would have names like Brick Wall Vinnie and Not Very Compassionate Arthur.

"In here" Sage opened a door and motioned for Sarah to go in ahead of him.

There was only enough illumination in the room to reveal only the barest of details. Even though there was very little in the way of furniture, Sarah was sure she could make out the silhouette of a person sitting on a chair in the centre of the room. This proved to be correct when Sage turned on the light.

"Huh? Noodle!" Sarah gasped.

Sarah expected a surprise but this was far more of a surprise than she ever could have imagined.

"Stay where you are Doctor" Sage warned when Sarah took a step forward.

"I present for your approval, one Buck Luttrell; whom you refer to a Noodle" Sage continued "As you can obviously see, he was not executed for his crimes against me but the continuation of his life is not yet guaranteed, and I am only showing him to you now because of the sterling way you have keep you miscreant bunch of technicians and engineers in line recently."

"Your Raiders and their over developed sense of privilege certainly have not made that an easy task" Sarah scowled "I thought you said you were going to take care of that and tell them to back off."

"What can I say; I lied" Sage smiled like a man with the power of life and death over all.

"Are you okay Noodle?" Sarah dared to ask.

"Well... I'm alive and that's a good start."

"Mr. Luttrell only lives because of an idea provided to me at the last minute by one of my underlings" Sage began to explain.

"But... I heard the gunshot" Sarah wondered.

"Merely the result of my frustration at having been interrupted in the middle of the execution" Sage shrugged.

"He shot the wall only inches from the guy's ear" Noodle revealed.

"Indeed I did" Sage admitted proudly and he would have received a second shot to the forehead if he had not given me a satisfactory explanation for the interruption... which he fortunately did. It was suggested that perhaps I should not trust you to keep your end of the bargain, to get my men and I safely on our way to Mars, once we were safely locked in our capsules and were flying through the upper atmosphere. You could do all kind of horrid things to me and even if you were not planning to do so, I believe I would be a fool to take the risk; that's why I've decided to take pre-emptive action."

"I still have the feeling I'm not going to like what's coming" Sarah sighed.

"Do you ever?" Sage smirked.

Before he continued, Sage had Buck removed and taken back to his cell, leaving him alone with Sarah to speak of his plan.

"What I intend to do Doctor is to take Mr. Luttrell with me in my capsule, and even place some more of your people in the others. Perhaps we'll even take Mrs. Dias with us."

"April!? B-but you can't; she's looking after her baby and you can't take the baby!" Sarah panicked.

"Why would I take a screaming smelly baby?" Sage sneered 'But there is no need to worry Doctor; once my men and I are safely onboard the Mars Transfer Vehicle, all of our hostages... I mean... guests will be given one of the capsules and be permitted to return together back here into your loving arms."

"How can I be sure you won't just eject them into space" Sarah snorted.

"You can't" Sage grinned with glee "I won't, but I just love the thought of you sweating over their fate."

"Come Sage I know you; you're not a total psychopath so why are acting like one?" Sarah asked.

"Oh I heard what you did there" Sage wagged his finger "Add the word 'total' so perhaps I wouldn't noticed you actually had called me psychopath. But yes Doctor Spencer I am playing something of a role... and I must admit I am enjoying it to the hilt. It's fun to keep people guessing; will he stay calm, will he go nuts, will he stab me in the neck with a fork. It works quite well as a way to maintain loyalty through fear. Of course to keep up the pretence, you do have to figuratively stab someone in the neck with a fork occasionally."

"You realise if you take a large number of my people with you, we'll have to factor in one or two extra launches, and that will only delay your departure even further."

"Then perhaps I'll change my mind and just take Mr. Bucky Noodle" Sage smiled "but prepare two more capsules just in case I don't."

"I could really use Buck's help. Any chance you would let him come back to work?" Sarah dared to ask.

"I don't see why not" Sage nodded "I hardly think he try and start a revolution with not only his life, but the lives of his friends at risk."

"Thank you... now if there is nothing else, I would like to get some rest before morning."

"Please do Doctor Spencer; after all, if you don't have your health, you haven't got anything."

'

* * *

'

With a loud splash, the forward anchor of the Sea Tug Striker dropped into the water off the western side of the Isle of Berk. Not long after two lifeboats were lowered from the stern and started to transfer their passengers around to a beach on the southern side. Two figures stood patiently waiting on shore for the boats arrival, and each one bore a contented friendly dragon on their shoulders.

In the lead boat, Professor Linton Adisa sat quietly beside one of his oldest friends, a man with a lot on his mind.

"Ready to face up to what you've done?" Linton broke the silence.

Henry Dias the First looked at the Professor but said nothing. He tried to hope for the best, but found it far too difficult. He had always thought he was doing the right thing in keeping his identity secret, but he doubted Blue would see things his way.

When the boats finally made shore, Professor Adisa took great joy in stepping ashore. The Striker was a good ship but solid ground was more far to the old man's taste. Seeing the young man he had helped raise striding towards him the Professor face clearly beamed.

"Blue my boy; it is so good to see you again."

"Hello Professor; I'm glad to see you safe and well and I'm looking forward to hearing about your adventures."

"Well judging by this big, odd looking lizard on your shoulder, I'd say you have a lot more to tell."

"Oh I think you'd win that bet. This is Firefly... and he's not a lizard; watch this."

Looking around his feet, Blue spotted a small piece of driftwood and picked it up.

"Firefly... get the stick" Blue cried out as he tossed it in the air.

To the Professors surprise, two long wings unfolded and the beast shot up into the sky and snatched his target before it had even arced back down towards the ground again. Soaring around in a wide circle, Firefly landed back in the same spot and dropped the piece of wood into Blue's waiting hands.

"Oh my goodness" Linton gasped "you've rediscovered a breed of winged lizard. I thought they became extinct well before the last ice age... maybe as long as two or three million years."

"You haven't quite got it yet Professor; keep watching."

Blue prepared to toss the piece of wood again, but this time he gave a different order.

"Firefly; shoot the stick."

This time the beast did not open its wings, but instead open its mouth wide and sent a shot of bright yellow flame up it to the air, turning the wood onto nothing more than black splinters.

"Good boy" Blue praised the obedient creature who purred as his chin was scratched.

"Wh-what.." was all the Professor could manage.

"Believe it or not Sir, what we have found here on this island... are dragons."

"That... is astounding" the Professor said while trying to calm himself.

"I know" Blue grinned broadly "After all the things that have gone wrong lately, this is..."

The young man's voice tapered off when he noticed another man slowly walking up the beach.

"Hello Blue... it's um... good to see you again. You're looking... well... and you've grown some too."

"Yes... hello Mr. Deming" Blue replied with almost no visible emotion on his face.

Even though they knew this day was coming, neither of the two was fully prepared for the reality of the situation. Blues reluctance to use his Grandfathers real name, clearly showed he was not yet ready to forgive the deception Henry Dias had forced on everyone, including his own family.

"Welcome to Berk" Blue greeted before turning on his heel and walking off.

'

* * *

'

**It's amazing how fast a week goes by at this time of year. As I was getting ready for work this morning, it suddenly hit me; today is Thursday and it's time to post the next chapter (insert profanity filled screaming here)**

**Fortunately I had a few hours to spare in the morning so I booted up the ol' computer and made sure everything was ready to go... at least that was the plan. I forgot I had promised to take one of my neighbours to the airport this morning, and then I had to drop in at the office to swap busses. Finally when I got home, I had to regularly let Boo Cat in the front door, wait till she'd eaten two cat biscuits, and then let her out the back door again.**

**Oh well, I got there in the end (sigh)**


	25. Chapter 25

**You may not know it Vin, but you found the Princess Bride quote. "If you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything" was said to Prince Humperdinck by Count Rugen. Well done :D**

* * *

Chapter 25

Deep under the ruins of Berk, the crews of the three ships had set up their temporary home, leaving only skeleton crews to look after the vessels on rotation. As a man who had always assumed he had seen everything, Professor Adisa was still feeling shocked, stunned and excited; he was so pleased that life on Earth could still surprise him.

"So it's called a Horrible Horror?"

"Terrible Terror" Blue laughed.

"Right... I see... and what is this place again?" the Professor asked.

"The underground dragon stables" Blue replied "There's an exit on the southern cliff face where the Dragon Riders could fly straight in. We found one of the other entrances near the arena."

Professor Adisa looked around at the amazing sight of people living with dragons. The little creatures scuttled everywhere, knowing whoever they approached would either pet them of feed them; sometimes both. Probably the person who was feeling most at home was Doom. She had managed to find a Terror with colouring ranging from deep blue to near black and after being shown by Haley how to befriend it, she had named the dragon Azrail.

"I assume she does know Azrail means Angel of Death?" the Professor asked.

"Oh I'm sure she does" Blue nodded.

"There are so many of them" Linton gasped "How do you keep track of them all?"

"Actually it's not so hard" Blue revealed "Not only do they have different colours and markings, the little devils also have very different personalities so all we have to do is give each one a name that suits it. For example, the green one over there with the yellow splotches on its sides is Daisy, the one sitting with Captain Sumner is Knucklehead, and the one getting a belly rub from Marion Green is called Rollo. Along with Firefly, I'm using those four dragons for a special project."

"What about the rest?" Professor Adisa asked.

"I'm still learning what they're called; some don't even have names yet" Blue admitted.

The Professor looked at all the activity going on around him and smiled.

"I'm amazed at what you've been able to achieve with these creatures in such a short time" he beamed proudly.

"Well I did have a lot of help from the books I'd read" Blue admitted.

"The ones given to you by that DeGroot fellow?"

"Yes; I was able to learn so much about the various ways to gain a dragons confidence, but finding Terrors was a real stroke of luck as they are so easy to befriend and train. Thanks to what we learned working with these little guys, we were even able to make peace with the Smokebreaths... well... kind of."

"What do you mean... kind of" Linton asked the young man.

"In all seriousness, I don't think they really trust us but we've been able to establish a kind of truce by freely giving them metal."

"Do they... eat metal?" the Professor only asked because his previous beliefs had been so completely shattered, he was ready to believe anything.

"No they don't eat it" Blue smiled "they collect metal and use it to build armoured homes; fortified nests would be another way of putting it."

"But where did you get all the metal?"

"We picked up a guy in Canada who actually had a metal detector in his pack" Blue revealed "He's been looking for treasure, and he's found a bit too, but any scrap metal we find can be used to bribe the Smokebreaths."

Professor Adisa smiled at the young man.

"I am so proud of you" he stated "I wasn't sure what would happen after we opened up the Sumatran Complex and you went outside for the first time, but you've adapted well and done so much."

Blues smile suddenly disappeared after the compliment.

"Well... to be truthful, I had a lot of help from Calla."

There was a moment of silence as the Professor took in what Blue had said.

"You must miss her... and your sister... very much" the old man nodded.

"I can tell you this; when it comes to getting them back, failure is not an option I would consider. I'd die first."

'

* * *

'

Over the next few days, plans were made and enacted for their eventual departure. The yacht Star Runner was placed on the rear deck of the Striker for the trip across the Atlantic and once it was secured in its cradle, a three meter tall triangular dragon hutch was built around it from wood sourced on the island. Blue did do his fair share of the work, but he would also disappear for a few hours each day. He would go to the main cave of the Smothering Smokebreaths with a backpack filled with as much scrap metal as he could comfortably carry.

On the first day he went, the defensive dragons would not allow him to come within fifty meters of their fortifications. But after he threw a few iron bars to them, the dragons started to show just a small amount of trust. After a few days the beasts allowed Blue to walk up close to their metal wall, where the dragons would snatch the welcome gifts out of his hands. For all of his efforts Blue did not manage to win the creatures over, but he did achieve his main goal of getting these territorial dragons to accept the presence of their human neighbours.

As soon as the conversion work on the Striker was complete the dragons were introduced to what everyone hoped they would accept as their new home, and the whole process proved to be easier than they expected. Firefly, Ginger Nut and Azrail were all happy to follow their pet humans anywhere they went and after a few hours on the sea tug, the other Terrors followed them over out of curiosity only to discover a custom built home with easy access to fish right at their back door.

Now the only thing left to do was to pack up and be on their way back to the west. But first Professor Adisa decided he needed to talk to Blue about something important the young man had been avoiding.

"Blue..." he called the young man aside.

"Don't say it Professor; I can tell what you're after just from your tone."

"Come on Blue... you have to talk to him eventually. And I think it would be better if you do it here where you can still take your time. Once we get underway, you'll both be trapped together onboard ship."

"Not if we go on different vessels" he stated

"I'm serious Blue" Linton declared sternly "The longer you wait, the harder it will be."

The only answer Blue gave his friend and mentor was a deep and heavy sigh before dropping the items he was packing and walking off. On the other side of the dragon stables he found the man he had been ignoring for far too long, and he too was packing to leave.

"So... all this time..."

"Blue!" Henry turned with a start.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"I'm sorry Blue... I honestly am. At first it was to protect Luis and April but..."

"We were trapped underground for fifteen years" Blue countered "And for all that time I thought my mother was dead, and my father had abandoned me. You could have told me."

"I had to keep it all secret from everyone" Henry pleaded "If Linton had known April was alive and her death had been faked, he would have opened up the railgun complex and... well to tell the truth, I don't know what would have happened but I was sure it would not have been good. Prime Governor Redding had ordered people executed for far less and I feared for the lives of everyone in the complex."

Blue stood silently and thought for a moment.

"All that could be true... but it all sounds very convenient" he said eventually "I know the Professor has forgiven you but in all fairness, he has become accustomed to being betrayed while it's still very new to me."

"I never meant to betray..."

"All those years I thought I had no family... only to find I was with my Grandfather from day one."

"I know it's a terrible excuse, but if I hadn't done it, if I hadn't abandoned my own wife and son when he was just a boy, Luis would never have been accepted into the Mars Program, he would never have met and fallen in love with your mother; and you and your sisters would never have been born."

Blue sighed and shook his head.

"I believe there is a difference between doing something difficult because it has to be done, and lying about it later because you can't face the truth."

"I... I'm sorry Blue... please forgive me."

The pleading look in his Grandfather's eyes did touch Blue's heart, but he still wasn't ready to grant the request.

"I need more time" he said before he walked off.

'

* * *

'

Blue soon found departing from had Berk left him with mixed emotions. Yes he was glad to be headed back to Canada, but there was still so much to learn from the home of the Dragon Riders. Apart from avoiding his Grandfather, Blue had also spent much of his time on the island avoiding Maximilian DeGroot. Fortunately this had not been difficult because the odd man had spent most of his days wandering around the base of the mountain and constantly referring to the ancient books and notes he possessed.

Finally when everyone was ready to leave, DeGroot ran down to the beach declaring he had found it, and begging Blue to come with him. He was more than a little disappointed when the young man refused. When asked what he had found, DeGroot would only say it was a cave; and so because the tide was right and the wind was almost perfect, Blue said it would have to wait until they returned, if they returned.

Later in the evening, the sun set in the west, but that was mainly due to habit. Reed Branson was manning the helm, pleased to be back in command of his ship, and Blue found himself sitting on the same forward hatch of the One and All where he had first seen Firefly; while the dragon in question napped peacefully with its head on his lap. The running lights of the Striker bobbed up and down with the mild swell about eight hundred meters ahead and slightly to port as the two ships made their way in the fading light. With his yacht safely secured on the sea tug, Emerson had brought his sailing experience over to the One and All and naturally Doom had come too.

"These guys would have to be the greatest pets in the world."

"Oh... hi Doom" Blue greeted "How's Azrail doing?"

"Great" she replied "These dragons are just so easy to take care of; whenever they're hungry, they go and catch their own food. And did you know these guys are really tribal?"

"How do you mean?" Blue asked a little confused.

"They're like... how do I put it? They treat us like part of their family. Not only are they protective, but they even share. Azrail came back earlier from fishing and when he had finished eating, he went out again and brought back a big Cod for me; the ships cook is preparing it now."

"He may have gotten it from the Striker" Blue grinned "I saw them haul in a net full of Cod just before sunset."

"He stole it? Why that sneaky little..."

"You mean resourceful" Blue winked.

'

* * *

'

Two hundred million kilometres away, the Mars Transfer Vehicle slipped silently into orbit around the red planet. Ever since the discovery and downfall of the Deep Council, who's members had been secretly manipulating the running of Mars Base since its inception, a lot had changed down on the surface. Several members of the Mars Base Citizens Council were found to be either Deep Council members or were heavily influenced by them, a new governing group was formed and one of the first decisions made, was to slow development of Mars Base Two and use it as a kind of prison for all those found guilty of the various crimes that had been committed.

While expansion work did continue at both locations, a new purpose was decided for the two thousand people living on Mars. They had been given help to get established by those left behind on Earth, and so they would now return the favour and assist Doctor Spencer in her plan to create liveable colonies inside some of the larger asteroids of the inner solar system.

Amos Hooke and Sid Cartwright looked down on the Mars surface from the viewing cupola behind the MTV's bridge. They both had a lot of work ahead of them but for now there was nothing to do but wait.

"Did you know there used to be a Mars Bar on Earth in the last century?" Sid noted.

Amos glanced at Sid in disbelief; how did he always manage to come up with some useless yet relevant piece of information, and why did Amos always fall into Sid's trap?

"Oh... really? So what kind of drinks did they serve in this Mars Bar?"

"There were no drinks" Sid replied without offering any explanation.

Amos let the silence continue until against his better judgement, he felt the need to comment once more.

"Not much of a bar if it had no drinks" he mumbled.

"It had caramel" Sid stated in his infuriatingly calm manor.

Amos took a deep breath and tried to stay calm.

"Caramel... with alcohol?"

"No, nougat... and it was coated in milk chocolate" Sid answered.

"So it was a chocolate bar" Amos huffed in frustration.

"Obviously" Sid declared making Amos want to hit him.

Fortunately for Sid, Kwame Moloi chose that moment to make contact with the orbiting ship.

"Mars Base One calling MTV Star Cruiser; we are ready to begin launching your new equipment."

"Message received Mars Base One; standing by" Luis Dias replied from the bridge.

Floating back to the main body of the ship, Luis addressed his skeleton crew.

"Alright you two; your gear is on its way, so it's time for the fun to begin."

'

* * *

'

**Ah it is good to have Sunday morning off. Nothing to do but water the garden, have an early lunch and edit this chapter. And now all that is done, I still have time for a half hour nap before getting ready for work. Of course you guys and gals won't see this chapter till Friday-ish but it's done anyway and that feels good :)**

**Late week update... IT'S HOT ! To be exact, 44C (110F). Oh boy, do I love air-conditioning? (yes)**


	26. Chapter 26

**Hi everyone, hope you all had a good Christmas.**

**I took the week off for this story to get the holiday busy period done and finish publishing the annual Snoggletog story. So I found myself wondering where I had left things with Blue and when I opened this chapter to proof read it, I was so happy because I've been waiting for this bit. Hope you like, **_**Marty.**_

* * *

Chapter 26

The night was perfect. There was a Half Moon but there was also a blanket of cloud covering the sky keeping the light low. Completely unseen by the guards on the nearby wall, a figure in dark clothing stepped carefully between random spots on the road and left a small orange orb in each place. He took his time for the air was still and if he should stumble or falter, his presence would surely be detected.

Eventually with his objective achieved, the figure turned and melted into the night.

'

* * *

'

The next day was a relatively cold in the mountains and the people of Gran's survival village were spending most of their time working inside the tunnel system, or in the outer buildings. The only people still outside were those who were hurrying from one work station to the next, and the ones who were unfortunate enough to be on guard duty both on the wall and near the gate. None of the guards stood still at their posts but instead they paced back and forth, rubbing their hands and stamping their half frozen feet. There had not been any snow but the breeze was coming in from the northeast and it brought with it an unwelcome chill.

On the rough road leading off to the south, one of the wall guards thought he could see something moving. He lifted a pair of binoculars to his eyes and was surprised to see someone approaching. He did not know it, but it was the same lone figure who had been there the previous night, now making his way determinedly towards the encampment.

"HEY!" the guard called to the men on the ground below "Are we expecting any traders?"

"Not at this time of year, traders only come during the harvest season" Stanley answered.

"Well there's someone coming up the road."

Looking where the guard was pointing, Stanley finally noticed what he was talking about. The whole group watched with keen interest as the figure drew ever closer until he suddenly stopped about a hundred meters from the wall and just stood there with his arms crossed.

"What's he doing?" Stanley asked the wall guard.

"Err... nothing really."

"Is he armed?"

"Doesn't appear to be" the guard replied.

Stanley walked forward a little but stopped after only a few meters; something did not seem right and he could not quite put his finger on what it was. The figure wore heavy clothing to protect him from the cold and a black skull cap. The collar of his coat was turned up and with the light behind him, it was difficult to see any identifying features.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Stanley shouted above the wind.

As if the cold air wasn't bad enough, the figures silence only made everyone at the wall even more uneasy. When no answer was forthcoming to Stanley's question, he decided to try again before taking any action.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

The figure uncrossed his arms and lifted his head, appearing to stare straight into Stanley's soul.

"I WANT THE TWO GIRLS, CALLA AND ABIGAIL; BRING THEM OUT AND THERE WILL BE NO TROUBLE."

"Is he kidding?" one of the men behind Stanley chuckled.

"It's the boy... the one who escaped... GET HIM!" Stanley ordered his men forward.

Blue could not believe his luck. He turned and ran back to the south with four armed men giving chase. When he had lead them far enough to be out of sight of the wall guards, Blue suddenly stopped and turned back to face his pursuers.

"WAIT!" he called out, holding up the palm of his hand to the men.

Even though they had no real reason to, Blue's authoritative demand made each man stop in his tracks. It took a few seconds before they realised they were following the orders of an escaped prisoner.

"This is your last chance!" Blue warned "Give me my friends or suffer the consequences."

"On the contrary" Stanley smirked "You are coming back with us."

"Alright then... FIREFLY; DISARM!"

Blue kept his eyes directly on the confused men standing before him. Unsure of what the young man was shouting about, they were not sure how to proceed. A strange bird gave a strange squawk high above them but it was not enough to divert their attention. Stanley half raised his rifle to show Blue that running again would not be a good idea, and ordered the other men to grab the boy. They had only taken a single step when the dragons struck.

Stanley jumped back from the shock as Firefly swooped down from the sky and grabbed the rifle barrel in his powerful talons. The other men abandoned the idea of moving on Blue and instead raised their own weapons with the intention of bringing the flying intruder down, but Azrail and Ginger Nut had other ideas. Putting their training to good use, they came in a few seconds behind Firefly and shot their fireballs straight into the fore stocks of the men's weapons. Both rifles discharged as the stocks disintegrated but Firefly had rolled into a dive, turning himself into a nearly imposable target. The wall guards gasped in astonishment at what they had witnessed; recapturing this boy should have been a simple task, but it had turned into quite the opposite.

Making the most of the distraction, Blue's allies had crept along the sides of the canyon and moved in along the sides of the wall. After slipping in the open gate, their intention was to climb the steps to the ramparts and capture the wall guards before the alarm could be raised; at least that was the plan. Reality turned out to be extremely different when Reed Branson found himself face to face with a man carrying a load of firewood, and a woman with a water container.

"Who the hell are you?" the woman demanded.

All this happened at the same time as the dragons attacked Stanley and his men, so when the rifles had discharged it soon became clear that something was afoot.

"HELP; WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" the woman declared as she dropped her container and ran back towards the tunnel.

The man threw his armful of firewood at Captain Branson before retreating as well.

"Oh crap!" Branson declared as he removed the radio from his belt "Blue; we're about to have company."

The three men Blue had subdued with the dragons help, had begun to get their heads back in the game after the initial shock of being disarmed, and had realised they still outnumbered the young man three to one. But before they could do anything to press their advantage, Haley, Emerson and Doom ran out from the forest on the west side of the road to give Blue some back up.

"Don't get any ideas" Emerson warned as he brandished a baseball bat sized piece of wood in a menacing fashion.

All three members of the First Dragon Attack Wing circled overhead with Firefly happily chewing on the rifle he had stolen, so Doom and Haley called back their dragons so they could employ the same kind of intimidation techniques as Emerson did with his stick.

"You think you can force your way in with just a few..."

Stanley did not continue with his observation when he noticed more of Blue's allies moving in from the forest.

"Dragon Wing to Bull Ant" Blue spoke into his radio "Surprise strike had severely limited success; go to plan Delta."

A cold shiver ran up Stanley's spine when he suddenly realised his foes were far better organised that he had first anticipated. But based on the number of people he had seen so far, he knew his side could easily handle three or four times their number. Several members of the Strikers crew took the first three captives back to the forest edge with the intent of sitting them down and binding their hands.

Meanwhile, the four members of Captain Branson's infiltration force were facing their own problems. After the alarm had been raised concerning the presence of the intruders, the two wall guards hurried down the steps to meet the threat head on at the main gate. Reed signalled his people to back up behind the gates frame and as soon as the first rifle barrel appeared around the corner, he grabbed it with both hands and swung its surprised owner around into the waiting arms of his people. He then swung the commandeered weapon back, using the butt of the stock to fell the second wall guard with a considerable tap to the forehead.

This initial success for the infiltration team ended right there and then, when a large hoard of people began to pour out of the tunnel brandishing various weapons. A few had rifles or hand guns, but most made do with tools and sticks. Reed suddenly knew how Doctor Frankenstein's creature must have felt when the entire population of the local village had risen up against him.

"Oh crap!" he stated for a second time.

Quickly picking up the other wall guard's rifle, Branson abandoned his prisoners and herded his team back outside the gate.

"run run Run Run RUN RUN!" he yelled.

The infiltration team only had a short head start on the mob behind them, and they clearly needed urgent help. The assistance came quickly in the form of a single rifle shot. It had come from a nearby hill but the crack of the gunshot bounced around the area, making it impossible to identify the location of its source. The round struck one of the small orange orbs left the night before causing it to erupt in a ball of flame some three meters in diameter. The sight of the flash, and thunderous sound accompanying it, naturally caused the pursuing mob to falter in their determination to pursue Captain Branson and his team.

"Where the hell is that tank?" Reed demanded to know when he reached the others.

"The Bull Ant? It's coming" Blue replied.

"So is Christmas but which one will get here first?"

"Maybe we should go to the Bull Ant instead of waiting here" Haley suggested.

"Good Idea" Emerson agreed as the entire group headed south.

The mob from the compound was still advancing on the rescuers, but in a much more careful manor. From her hiding place on the hill, Marion Green watched the entire proceedings through the scope of her late father's snipers rifle. She picked out a second orange orb in the mobs path and squeezed the trigger. The second eruption had the desired effect of making everyone think twice about their actions.

Not far down the road, the rescuers finally came across their current goal. The rail carriage on caterpillar tracks that was the Bull Ant ground its way slowly and inevitably towards Gran's compound.

Its physical appearance had changed greatly recently, when the passengers and crews of the two ships from Sumatra had arrived and turned it into a reasonable facsimile of an Ancient Roman War Machine.

In only three days the crew of the One and All along with engineers from the Striker, had achieved something truly astounding. Gone was the solar blanket from the roof of the railway car, with all electrical power now coming from a shielded nuclear thermal generator the size of kitchen refrigerator, that had been repurposed from a planned observation satellite, as of yet unbuilt. Two hefty tree trunks hung from heavy chains, one on each side, running the entire length of the Bull Ant and protruding four meters out in front. Atop these logs a shield of smaller pine trunks curved around the nose and one third of the way down each side of the vehicle.

Offensive armament was light and consisted of only one sharp shooter in the form of Jose Garcia, and a flamethrower so small, it could barely be used to light a campfire. Jose had been given the task of trying to worry the defenders from the canyon, while the flamethrower was meant to scare the pants off them by making them think there was another dragon close by.

As the pitiful excuse for a war machine slowly closed the distance between itself and the compound wall, Blue and rescue team closed the distance between themselves and he Bull Ant at a more rapid pace.

"GET THE FLIGHT BOARD!" Blue cried out when he had reached his destination.

The rear door of the Bull Ant opened and two crew members lowered the pieces of Blue's new contraption to the ground.

"Are you sure about this" Reed Branson looked very sceptical "Your landings back on the island were pretty rough."

"Oh I'm sure the dragons will do much better this time... I hope" Blue admitted to some trepidation.

With Gran's defenders still making their way down the road, Blue knew he did not have much time to get ready, so he laid the board on the ground and got to work. What he had made consisted of a carbon fibre board cut from one of the underwater struts of the Star Runner's false keel. It was just over a meter long and had been modified with four steel rings loosely fitted, one in each corner. A piece of two meter pipe was slipped into the rings at the front, followed by another at the back. With everything in place at last, Blue called on his dragons.

"Good luck" Haley said as each of the four Terrible Terrors swooped down and took up their positions on the ends of the pipes.

"Luck would be nice, but I'd rather have a crash helmet" Blue admitted.

"Don't forget this" Emerson said, passing Blue a small satchel.

"Thanks... okay boys and girls... LIFT!" Blue ordered.

The sight of four small dragons carrying a young man on what could only be described as a aerial skeleton sled, was something the Bull Ant crew were still not quite used to. The whole system was still in its early stages of development and was very rough. The only control Blue had over the direction of travel was to lean his body in the direction he wanted to steer. For anything else he had to rely on the skill and intuition of the dragons.

They lifted off with the sled pointing to the south in an attempt to hide Blue's departure from the pursuing mob. About five hundred meters down the road, Blue leant back a little by lifting his shoulders, thereby signalling the dragons to start gaining a little altitude. Taking a wide arc to the left, Blue guided the dragons up over the top of the hill and back towards the compound that was once his home and prison, and where his lost friend and his sister still resided.

Blue already knew how intelligent and intuitive dragons were, thanks not only to the writings of Fishlegs Ingerman, but also from his recent experiences with them. Even so he would have been truly amazed if he had only known just how much the Terrible Terrors were aware about what was going on. This was not the first time these small dragons had needed to work together against a much larger enemy. They may not have known the reasons for why this conflict was occurring, but there was one thing they did know. Ever since the day they had first met the humans on the Island of Berk, Blue and his friends had proved themselves to be caring, generous, and fun loving people; so if they had a problem with these strangers from the cold mountain, then the dragons would have their backs to the bitter end. There was no doubt in their minds at all; playtime was over for now, this was war.

'

* * *

'

**Did anyone notice the paraphrase of a Han Solo quote? **

**I can't help it, I love putting stolen lines in ;)**


	27. Chapter 27

**Sunday the 29****th**** of December and I finally have my first day off in three weeks (yay 1). I feels good to have the annual Snoggletog story published so I can relax and play with this story for the next four weeks. It's 40 Celsius (104 F) so I'm staying in till the sun sets. **

**Thursday the 2****nd**** of January: Happy New Year everyone (yay 2).**

* * *

Chapter 27

It would have been difficult to name the current event happening between the crew of the Bull Ant attempting to rescue Abigail and Calla, and the townsfolk of Gran's mountain stronghold defending their home. There were too many attacks between the groups to call it a standoff, but at the same time neither side made any serious attempt to break through the enemy line; so it clearly wasn't a battle either.

The Bull Ant had advanced as far as the open clearing two hundred and fifty meters from the border wall, but had not proceeded any further. Only a small number of the mountain defenders had retreated back through the gate, but they had only done this so they could gain the strategic advantage of being able to fire their weapons from an elevated position. Meanwhile their colleagues still out in the open stood their ground against Branson and the rest of the rescue team as they sheltered behind the Bull Ants defences. Some fired rounds into the pine log shield around the nose, while the rest persistently threw rocks, sticks or any other projectile they could find.

What nobody from the mountain had noticed, was the young man flying over the eastern hill, suspended from four very eager dragons. The thick low cloud of the grey day certainly helped to obscure them from sight, but Blue still thought it would be prudent to take the long way around to lower the risk of detection even more.

With all attention diverted outside the wall, Blue managed to bring his flight board down behind the buildings beyond the tunnel entrance completely unseen by the few people still inside the compound. The landing was far from perfect, but as predicted it was the best one they had managed to achieve so far, sliding on the ground for only a few meters. Once on the ground, the dragons released their grip on the poles and began to scamper around the area, taking in the aromas of the village and looking for any signs of danger.

"Okay, follow me" Blue said as he led the dragons between the empty buildings.

The entrance to the tunnel though, was far from empty with two people on guard. Neither of them appeared to possess a firearm, but they did have heavy black batons. Every few minutes Blue had heard the sound of a gunshot and with the latest one, his heart began to race. Who was firing? Was anyone hit? Was anyone dead? He soon realised the more he delayed, the worse thing would get so he signalled the dragons to silently climb up the mountain face to a spot above the tunnel. He counted to ten, took a deep breath, and took off running.

The two guards had been watching the distant gate, preparing to fight off any of the attackers who managed to break through the lines, so they were not expecting a single rescuer to run at them from the buildings on the northern side of the compound. As soon as they heard the sound of feet on gravel, they turned to see the young man rapidly advancing on them, and they recognised him too. Satisfied that he had the two men's full attention, Blue shouted out the signal to his dragons.

"SICK 'EM!"

The response was just as unexpected as it was instantaneous. The four Terrible Terrors lived up to their name as they leapt out from above the tunnel and proceeded to terrorise the guards. One man was knocked flat on his face when Firefly and Daisy hit him square on the back of his shoulders. Rollo flapped his wings in the second man's face while Knucklehead bit his right wrist in an attempt to force him to drop his baton. The result was only half successful because of the leather strap holding the baton to the man's wrist, so when he tried to wave the dragon in front of him away, he ended up hitting Rollo on the side of his head before accidentally knocking himself out cold.

Blue felt a lump form in the pit of his stomach. Of course he had know there was a chance one or more of the dragons could be hurt during the rescue operation, just as there was for he and his friends; but they all knew the risk where as the dragons didn't. Blue disarmed the two men, giving a grave warning to the one still conscious to stay put where he was face first on the ground lest one of the dragons should shoot him in the face with a fireball if he dared to move. The threat may not have been true, but it was a particularly effective ruse. Free at last to check on his fire breathing friend, Blue knelt down and picked up the fallen dragon.

"Rollo... are you okay little buddy?"

The dragon seemed okay but his eyes were rolling around in opposite directions. Unfortunately Blue did not know if this was normal or not, but rather than take a chance the young man decided to effectively bench his injured player for the rest of the game.

"There you go Rollo" he said softly as he tucked the dragon inside his jacket.

Once again Firefly felt justified for befriending this human; he seemed to understand that when small dragons fight together, the strong ones always take care of the weak or injured.

"Come on boys and girls" Blue exclaimed as he ran into the tunnel.

Firefly and Daisy scampered along the walls in front of Blue, lighting the way with the small flames in the back of their throats, while Knucklehead covered the rear of the group. All three dragons were determined to fully protect Blue so he in turn would be free to protect the injured Rollo.

As they headed towards the room he had once shared with his sister and his best friend, the odd group would occasionally come across one or two of the few people still inside the tunnel. Almost all of them had small children with them who would scream in terror when they saw the glowing heads of the dragons advancing towards them. Blue had very strong feeling of guilt because of the fear he was bringing, but at least it meant he did not have to fight off the adults who would grab the children in their care and either retreat down one of the side tunnels, or would slip into a nearby room and slam the door.

Arriving at his old room at last, Blue was surprised to see it was not locked but the reason became obvious when he threw open the door. Instead of the girls he sought, there was only a woman he did not recognise caring for a small group of children.

"Where are the girls from this room?" Blue demanded to know.

Two of the dragons climbed around the door frame and onto the inner wall; the children recoiled in horror.

"W-what girls? This is my room" the woman replied.

"Well... where were they taken?" Blue hoped for an answer.

"Who?" the woman shrugged.

"Calla and Abigail" Blue said forcefully.

"The prisoners? I have no idea where they've been put.

"Dammit!" Blue cursed.

He called the dragons out of the room and closed the door; it was time to try another approach. Unclipping the latch on his satchel, Blue removed one of the two plastic bags inside it. From the bag he took a t-shirt he had taken from his sister's room on the Bull Ant.

"Firefly, Daisy, take a sniff."

The dragons did as they were told and once they had the scent, the pair began sniffing about the tunnel for a trail. As they searched, Blue opened his jacked to check on the patient inside.

"How are you doing Rollo?"

The weary dragon stirred slightly, gave a big yawn and closed its eyes again.

"Yeah sleep on buddy" he said softly.

Blue had no trouble following the excited dragons at first, as they moved back and forth searching for a familiar scent. But as soon as they had found the right tunnel, the pair ran off as fast as their legs would carry them.

"Come on Knucklehead, we'd better not lose them."

The last dragon followed dutifully while continuing to keep a sharp eye out for any trouble that may appear from behind them. Soon Blue was not following visible dragons, but small bobbing lights moving along the tunnels and bouncing off the walls. After a few minutes, the lights stopped advancing, simply darting around a single spot. Upon arrival, Blue found Firefly and Daisy jumping about excitedly in front of a locked door.

"Firefly; shoot!" Blue ordered, pointing at the padlock.

A single fireball was all that was needed to blow the lock off; it landed a few meters away, now nothing more than a lump of half melted and half shattered brass. The bolt on the door was far too hot now for Blue to touch directly, so he pulled the sleave of his jacket down over his right hand and very carefully lifted and slid it back. As soon as he had he pushed the door open, Daisy hurried into the room, still following the scent in her nose.

"Woah!" a familiar voice cried out from within.

"It's okay Abby, it's me" Blue stepped inside as Firefly jumped up onto his shoulder.

As soon as he entered the dimly lit room, Blue could clearly see this was nothing like the room he had shared with Abigail and Calla before his escape. Indeed he would not even call it a room; it was a cell to be sure. Inside he could just make out the silhouetted figure of his sister sitting on the lower bunk of a bed almost half the size of the entire room, but before he could ask about Calla, a dark hooded shadow leapt down from the top bunk and charged out of the open doorway and disappeared down the tunnel, almost knocking Blue down in the process.

"CALLA... WAIT!" Abigail cried out to no avail.

"Wha..." Blue exclaimed as he regained his balance.

Leaping up off the bed, Abigail threw her arms around her brother and almost squeezed the life out of him; not to mention the other dragon he carried.

"This is incredible... I can't believe you're back already. Calla and I thought we'd be here for year at least."

"I um... managed to get some help" Blue replied.

As if on cue, Firefly too some credit for helping by jumping up onto his shoulder again, causing Abigail to jump back in surprise.

"Oh my gosh... it's another one; what are they?"

"Firefly; lantern please" Blue requested.

The room suddenly became much brighter as the dragon opened his mouth to reveal a lit flame at the back of its throat. With the increased illumination, Abigail could clearly see the two lizard like creatures, wings and all.

"Oh my... are these...?"

"Dragons, yes" Blue smiled "This is Firefly and the one at your feet is Daisy."

"Firefly seems like a good name for a dragon, but Daisy?" Abigail wondered.

"It was her colouring" Blue admitted.

"Oh yes... I can see it; green with some yellow splotches. Hello Daisy."

Abigail squatted down and held out her hand to greet her new friend. But to her surprise, the dragon jumped up on to the girls arm and climbed up to her shoulder.

"Ha... this is wonderful" she laughed "I wish Calla could see..."

Suddenly realising what she was saying, Abigail stopped and looked down at her feet."

"Yeah... about Calla... why did she run away?" Blue asked his sister.

"Well... it's kinda hard to explain... I think I'd better let her tell you herself."

Blue thought for a moment before coming to a decision. Then he opened up his jacked to reveal the resting dragon inside.

"Far out; there's another one?" Abigail gasped.

"Two more here and even more back at the Bull Ant" Blue revealed "This is Rollo and he got hit on the side of the head when the dragons attacked the guards at the tunnel entrance."

"And crushed when I hugged you" Abigail realised.

"Yeah... but they're tough little guys for sure" Blue nodded "Here... take him."

Blue handed the dragon to his sister before removing his jacket and helping Abigail into it. The then called the final dragon in for a final introduction.

"This is Knucklehead and he..."

"Knucklehead?" Abigail wondered.

"Don't ask" Blue sighed "He'll protect you on the way out."

Before sending them off, Blue hurried over to the bed and took the pillow from the top bunk.

"Daisy, Firefly... sniff this" he held up the pillow for the two dragons to examine.

"Okay... seek" he ordered.

Leaping off the Dias's shoulders, the two dragons rushed out the door and took off after the fresh trail Calla had just left.

"Okay Knucklehead... protect" he gestured to Abigail and Rollo "and go home."

"I'll see you outside" Abigail nodded "Good luck."

Cradling the dragon in her care, Abigail followed the one leading her to freedom, while Blue in turn went deeper into the tunnels and headed towards the two dragon lights awaiting him at the first junction.

'Good luck' his sister had said; now why would he need that? Blue thought.

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**Cats are weird. Rather than stay in the main house where it is cool, Boo Cat wants to spend her time in her glass fronted room which is about ten to fifteen degrees hotter inside. Needless to say I won't let her in there, as I don't want to cook my pretty little kitty.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Sorry to hear you are freezing Vin, I suppose this is why I like Spring and Autumn the most – not too hot, and not too cold. They are the Goldilocks seasons; just right. I just finished up a productive week off work with lots of housework done, garden cleaned up, chapters written and yearly medical checkups complete. So now I'm all ready to take on 2020.**

**Hope you all like the latest one.**

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Chapter 28

The pseudo war continued outside the wall of the mountain tunnel compound, with very little progress on either side. The townsfolk continued to throw rocks at the invaders as they block the path of the Bull Ant. For their part, Blues friends had no desire to run down these people and so a general stalemate had been reached. If any of Gran's defenders should come too close, an overhead swoop from one of the dragons followed by a fireball soon made them think twice. Marion Green and her snipers rifle were still hidden on the side hill but she had cease firing soon after the battle had started. Her only task had been to set off the small flash bombs Blue had set the night before, but now there were so many people milling around in the open area, she did not want to risk setting any more off as they could still manage to badly hurt someone at such a close range.

Reed Branson decided too much time had passed since Blue had gone in with his squad of four dragons and it may be time to change tactics. To this end, he left his team behind the front wooden shield of the bull Ant, climbed up the rear steps and made his way to the front of the top deck where Professor Adisa had been watching the proceedings through a hastily installed periscope. From this safe position he had a very good view over the top of the shield and across the open area.

"I don't think things are going as well as we'd hoped" Reed declared.

"Hmm... yes I believe you are right" the Professor replied as he continued to scan the area.

"So what do we do? We can't abandon the kids, we can't get around that mob, we can't drive forward, we can't drive back, we can't..."

"Why not?" Adisa asked.

"Huh... why not what?"

"Why not go back?"

"WHAT! AND LEAVE ABBY, BLUE AND CALLA?"

"Calm yourself Captain, I was not suggesting anything of the sort. From up here I have noticed something very interesting" Professor Adisa noted "For all their bluster and bravado, these people appear to have no desire to actually win this fight; they don't want to overpower us and take us prisoner, they just want to drive us off. See how they are herding us from the front and not trying to flank the Bull Ant and surround us. I have noticed also that the firearms a few of them carry are used very little and not in a lethal manor. This could suggest that they have not had much training and even less ammunition, but I believe the reason is because they merely want to make us think twice about attempting another frontal assault."

"Well... okay but we can't let them send us packing with our tails between our legs" Reed said desperately.

"No but we can let them think they have" Linton smiled as he tapped the side of his nose.

Reed smiled at the elderly Jamaican man; he should have known the Professor would have a plan.

"If we slowly retreat, stopping occasionally to make it appear as if we have not yet given up entirely, then the mob outside should continue to try and scare us off."

"Giving Blue more time" Reed nodded in agreement.

"But wait, there's more" Linton winked.

Having been told the Professors plan, Branson returned to his team still sheltering behind the Bull Ant's nose shield.

"Take these and follow me" he told them.

"Umm... a chainsaw?" Emerson looked puzzled at what he'd been given, and hoped it was not for personal defence.

Reed led the team to the back of the Bull Ant and then further down the road. Taking a similar route to Blues flight path, the stealthy group moved up the side hill and into the forest, arching slowly around the angry defenders and making their way closer to the mountain compound. As soon as they were out of sight, Professor Adisa told the Bull Ant's driver to begin their measured retreat.

'

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'

Abigail and her dragon escort moved cautiously through the tunnel system towards the entrance, making occasional use of empty rooms and side passages, to avoid being noticed by the few people still moving throughout the underground passages. For the most part this tactic worked very well, until one man noticed the young girl through the corner of his eye as he passed the side tunnel Abigail had hidden in.

"Hey; what are you doing out of your room?" he demanded to know as he grabbed Abigail's wrist.

If only he had bothered to look up, the unfortunate man would have seen one small but very strong Terrible Terror, who did not like to see a good friend of Blue being handled in such a rough manor; especially when she was caring for another dragon in her jacket at the time. Before the man could even pull Abigail out into the main tunnel, the roaring dragon dropped down from the roof of the tunnel, landed heavily on his head, and bit his nose.

The man immediately released his grip and jumped back. As if being assaulted by one creature, he had previously believed to be nothing more than a myth, was not bad enough, a second dragon then leapt out of the afore mentioned jacket, knocked the man over onto his back and started to beat its wings in his face. Unable to stop himself from screaming and finding it difficult to move, the man eventually manage to roll over, pull himself up onto his feet, and fearfully retreat back the way he had come.

"Good job Knucklehead" Abigail smiled as she rewarded her protector by tenderly rubbing his chin.

Rollo in the meantime had simply returned to his comfortable hammock inside Blue's jacket and gone back to sleep.

"Why you lazy little beggar" Abigail exclaimed "You must have gotten over your knock to the head a long time ago, but you just like to be carried.

She patted the purring dragon on the head as she cradled him in her arms.

"Well... I suppose it is good to have you hiding as a concealed weapon" she smiled as she resumed her journey.

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Daisy and Firefly were doing a marvellous job of tracking down the scent Blue had given them, but even so they appeared to be having very little success. Several times they had led Blue into a dead end before finding the right direction once again. At first Blue had assumed these were simple mistakes but he soon realised there was a pattern to their errors. He soon worked out that Calla was purposely leaving a scent trail on the wrong path before doubling back and going off in a different direction.

By repeatedly doing this she had managed to leave a very confusing trail but she had no hope of keeping the dragons off her path forever. Eventually they found her hiding back in the same cell she had fled from when Blue had first arrived, but this time the door had been barricaded from the inside using the bunk bed. The determined young man was sure he could move the obstruction by using nothing more than brute force, and managed to open the door a good inch with just a few hard knocks from his shoulder.

"GO AWAY!" Calla's voice sounded very upset.

"But... what do you mean? I thought you wanted to get out of here" Blue exclaimed.

"I've err... changed my mind; I've decided to stay here."

"Oh come on, you've got to be joking" Blue worriedly laughed.

"I wouldn't joke about this... things have changed."

Blue could not believe what he was hearing; he rubbed his forehead in a desperate attempt to force himself to be brilliant, but he only ended up more frustrated.

"You said... you said you were relying on me to get help... well I did and now it's time to go home to Sumatra."

"Sumatra is your home, not mine... this is my home now" Calla countered "I did what I promised, I kept your sister safe, so take her and go."

"... ... ...no" Blue said softly "Something is wrong here and I'm not going until I find out what it is. Calla we've been friends for a long time now, we've been through so much together and... and I've... I've fallen in love with you... so... if you stay... I'm staying too."

"WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO DECIDE THIS?" she screamed at the door "I... didn't ask you to fall in love with me... I didn't ask you to kiss me. I... I don't love you and I don't want to be with you so... just leave me alone."

Blue took a deep breath as he wondered what to do next. He had never considered leaving Calla behind and was not prepared to contemplate the idea now.

"Do you remember what I said to you before I left?"

He waited for a short time but she gave no answer.

"I said I couldn't imagine my life anymore without you in it."

"You'll get over it" she said coldly.

"I doubt that very much" Blue replied.

Blue sighed as a tear rolled down his cheek. He wasn't sure how long the Bull Ant's crew could keep Gran's forces distracted but at the same time, he appeared to be getting nowhere so he decided to take a different tack. Taking a step back, he braced himself before throwing all his weight into the door. Of course he failed to open it but there was now a considerable gap there.

"I TOLD YOU TO GO AWAY" Calla cried out again.

Kneeling down, Blue called the small green dragon to his side.

"Daisy... go to Calla and protect her."

The dragon recognised the order to protect and so she followed Blue's pointed finger and wriggled her way through the door and into the cell where she found the scent they had been following sitting on the bed.

"WhaAAA! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" the frightened girl screamed.

"Calm down Calla, its only Daisy; she's a dragon... a Terrible Terror to be exact and she'll take care of you."

"A... dragon? You mean to say... you found them?"

"Yes... they are the reason I was able to return so soon. A few of these on your side greatly increases the number of people you can take on in a fight. Get to know her; bond with her and I can guarantee you won't regret it. These little guys are strong, smart and extremely loyal."

"Oh my... she's amazing" Calla admitted.

"I'm sure there are more of them out there...bigger ones too. Do you really want to miss out on being one of the first people to ride a dragon in the modern age?"

There was a moment of near silence although Blue at first could clearly hear Calla talking to the Daisy as if she were the cutest of infants, but all soon fell quiet.

"Nice try..." Calla finally said "but it's time for you to go... and you should take your flying lizard with you."

"I'd feel better if you kept Daisy with you" Blue pleaded "She'll take care of you just like you took care of Abby."

"But... what would I feed her?"

"She likes fish and chicken, but she is also quite capable of catching wild game; we've found the dragons are also willing to share what they have."

"I can just imagine what Phyllis would say when she finds out about Daisy" she laughed for the first time.

Leaning forward, Calla put out her hand and was surprised at how friendly the dragon was towards her.

"Who's Phyllis?" Blue asked.

"Oh that's Gran's real name; we found it out during the trial."

"The WHAT?"

"Calm down Blue; we were found not guilty on the most serious charge... oh... you probably don't know... Nancy... is dead. She was killed in a rock fall after the meteorite exploded."

"And they blame you for it?" Blue gasped.

"As I said, there was a trial, but we were declared not guilty... and that certainly put a bug up Phyllis's butt." Calla laughed again as she continued to pet her new dragon.

Another awkward silence followed until Calla decided it was time to bring this conversation to an end.

"So... are you leaving now?"

"If you insist" Blue relented.

"Oh I insist... I really do."

"Alright then... I'll go... as soon as you come out and say goodbye."

"Forget it; goodbye" Calla snorted.

"Oh you don't get a choice on this" Blue did some insisting of his own.

"But... I don't want you to see..."

"Don't want me to see what?"

Calla was quiet for a few seconds before she took a deep breath to steady her nerves.

"Alright then... so be it!"

Blue soon heard the sound of the bed being dragged away from the door, which opened a few seconds later. Calla stepped out into the light with her hooded head bent low and a green dragon at her feet. Blue could hear her erratic, shallow, heavy breathing until she at last filled her lungs, lifted her head and threw back her hood.

Blue audibly gasped and instantly wished he hadn't. Her face was just as he remembered it; but on her left side, a horrid burn scar covered the area behind her left eye, all the way to the back just above her ear and down to her shoulder. Hair no longer grew on that side of her head and she had not yet succeeded in growing the hair above her ear long enough to hide the obtrusive scar.

"Oh Calla... what happened?"

"Let's just say... there was an accident and leave it at that; now... goodbye" she looked down as she held out her hand for Blue to shake.

Instead of giving Calla the desired farewell, Blue took her hand in both of his and moved a little closer to her.

"Does it hurt much?" he asked.

"Of course it does but... not as much as it used to" Calla admitted.

"And this is why you want to stay here?" he asked.

"I err... I didn't want you to see me like this."

"Well... I've seen you now... so let's go home."

"NO!" Calla declared, tearing her hand back "YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS; YOU DON'T... have to pretend... pretend you still like me."

"Firstly, I'm not pretending anything and secondly, not only do I still like you, I still love you."

"Don't be ridiculous... who could love... this?" she gestured to her face.

"I find it very easy" Blue admitted "because it's the face of a brave, smart and beautiful young lady who makes my heart beat faster every time I think of her."

"You... you..."

Blue never did find out what Calla was about to say because she suddenly collapsed into an emotional heap on the floor of the tunnel. Kneeling down, Blue put his arms around Calla and held her to his chest, while two small dragons slowly approached and rested their chins on her lap.

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**Poor Boo Cat. I sometimes see her looking at the boxes of cat food I bought before Christmas with a look that says "Why can't I have it all now?"**

**Sorry puss.**


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Thanks to her dragon escort, Abigail made it to the tunnel entrance with little further trouble. Word had already gotten around about Blue's return and the fire breathing flying lizards he had brought with him, and so more and more people used the simple tactic of just running away whenever they set eyes upon one of the creatures.

Approaching the outside with caution, Abigail looked about the compound and studied what she saw. The buildings to her left appeared to be mostly devoid of life but there were a few people hurrying around the open area between her and the gated wall. They appeared to be transporting rocks from the remaining piles near the tunnel, to the base of the wall where ropes and pullies were employed to take them to the top.

"So... planning to hurl a few deadly missiles at my rescuers are you?" Abigail smirked "What do you think Knucklehead; shall we give our friends a timely warning?"

"Rowwl" the dragon replied, not really knowing what he was agreeing to.

Moving silently between the outer buildings, Abigail made her way to the far side of the compound, well away from the tunnel entrance. From there it was only fifty meters or so to the left side of the wall and another fifteen meters to the open gate. All she needed to get her safely through to her destination though, was a little distraction of the kind only an angry dragon can provide. The only question was, how could she get the dragons to provide her with the diversion she desired? Opportunity smiled upon the young lady when she noticed one of the rock transporters was an old friend who needed to be brought down a peg or two. And so she stepped out from the building she hid behind and did something most unladylike.

"HEY ERIC... PHFFFBT!" she declared with both her tongue and her middle finger extended.

"Wha... WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?"

Almost blinded by fury, Eric dropped the rock he was carrying and hurried over to take the young girl back to where she belonged. But the seemingly simple task wasn't as easy to accomplish as he had hoped.

"Come on, you're going back to your room" Eric declared as he grabbed Abigail by the wrist.

By now, the two dragons had their routine down perfect; and so, just as the man in the tunnel had before him, Eric too came to regret seizing the young girl in such a rough manor. A surprise Knucklehead on the top of his skull followed by a quick Rollo to the chest, gave Eric reason to question where fate had taken him, and which life choices he had quite clearly gotten wrong in the past.

This time though, Abigail did not wait for the dragons but instead made a quick sprint to the inside wall. Eric's high pitch screams drew the attention of everyone in the compound as well as the defenders lined up on the ramparts. Seeing all was safe, Abigail continued her run along the inner wall, out through the gate, and back down the outside wall to the vertical rock face on the eastern edge. After a quick check to be certain she had not been seen yet, the excited girl hurried off along the edge of the open area leading to the south road. In a few hundred meters, the rock face gave way to a steep brush covered hill where she could conceal herself as she made her way past the angry defenders, still shouting and throwing rocks at the slowly reversing Bull Ant. The curved shield of young pine logs, may have given the vehicle an entirely new look, but Abigail new her former home when she saw it.

She crawled on her hands and knees, being more concerned about remaining concealed rather than covering ground quickly. Abigail succeeded in this direction and the only pairs of eyes to see her were the ones belonging to Rollo and Knucklehead. When Eric's friends had run to his aid, the dragons had taken to the air and flown back and forth, swooping just out of reach of thrown rocks and swung clubs. One of the armed wall guards tried to train his pistol on Knucklehead but Rollo's keen eye saw the offensive weapon in plenty of time, and it was shot out of the man's hand with a well placed fireball. As it arched through the air, the dragon decided to put it out of commission permanently, hitting the gun a second time with a short stream of blue flame, melting its extremities and fusing many moving parts. Two of the chambered bullets then exploded, turning the weapon into nothing but scrap metal.

Having left the compound, the two dragons flew high up to see Abigail now crawling through undergrowth, making her way south. Swooping down below the treetops, Knucklehead came to rest on a small rise of moss and creepers while Rollo, unable to go back to his bed inside the girl's jacket, simply alighted between the young girl's shoulders before laying down.

"Oh hello... you're back. Good work boys" Abigail commended them.

"Yeah they're wonderful creatures aren't they?" the rise of moss noted.

Abigail heart skipped a beat but due to the complete lack of a reaction from either dragon, she quickly deduced they both already knew someone was there.

"Whoa... you startled me" Abigail declared truthfully.

"Yeah, sorry" the rise laughed "Don't worry, I'm on your side; my name is Marion Green and the reason you can't see me is because I'm wearing a ghillie suit."

"A... what?" Abigail gasped.

"A ghillie suit" Marion repeated "It's what we snipers wear to avoid being detected."

"Sniper?" Abigail sneered.

"Yeah but don't worry, I'm not planning on killing anyone today. Maybe tomorrow... we'll see how I feel" she joked.

"Are you here to..."

"Rescue you? Yes... and based on the pictures I've seen, you must be Abigail Dias; pleased to meet you."

"Yeah good to meet you too" Abigail replied "So um... where do we go now?"

"We don't honey" Marion replied "Best you sit tight here with me; mucha mierda está a punto de golpear al fan."

"Huh?"

"It's Spanish for lay low and watch the fun."

'

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A little further to the south and high on the hill, Captain Branson and his team of nine continued to make their way up slowly past the retreating Bull Ant and its loud angry pursuers. Reed and Emerson both carried chainsaws while Doom and Haley kept their dragons calm and close at hand until Professor Adisa's plan could be put into effect. As soon as the group were well behind the defenders of Gran's compound, they moved back down towards the road taking position near a tall but long dead tree. Pointing to a larger living pine nearby, Reed sent Emerson, Doom and Haley to this second location while he stayed put with the rest of the team.

Nobody now stood between Reed and the wall but instead of making a rush for the gate, the One and All's captain instead started his chainsaw. Upon hearing the small two-stroke start up, Emerson did likewise and began to slice a wedge out of the downhill side of the tall pine tree. Further down the road at the nose of the Bull Ant, the townsfolk did not notice what was happening behind them for quite some time. Every one of them shouted and roared so loudly at the machine they sought to drive off, they'd managed to almost completely drown out the noise of the chainsaws.

"WAIT... WAIT... EVERYONE BE QUIET!" one of them finally ordered.

But he was far too late for as silence eventually fell over the crowd, the only thing to be heard was the sound of falling trees a hundred meters behind them. The biggest of the two trees completely covered the road and over both shoulders. The second one fell behind it and was soon set alight by Azrail and Ginger Nut, who then flew down the sides of the road, sending fireballs down at the feet of anyone who tried move into the forest.

"I think you should send your dragons to help honey" Marion suggested.

"Err... how?" Abigail was still very new to being a Dragon Trainer.

"Like this" Marion replied "Knucklehead, protect Azrail; and Rollo, go protect Ginger Nut."

Having heard their names and the attached orders, both dragons flew off to join the fray.

'

* * *

'

Deep inside the labyrinth of tunnels, Calla was still on her knees with her head resting on Blue's shoulder. The months and months of pent up emotion, pain and frustration had finally come to a head for the young girl, but once she had been able to let it all out, she was now trying desperately to regain her courage.

"I... I'm sorry" she tried to use her strong voice "I shouldn't have let my emotions get the better of me."

"Humph; as if you had anything to be sorry about" Blue declared "You had no idea we were coming today, you didn't even know if we were coming this week, this month or even this year. So how could I have expected you to be ready to go? It's clear to me that you and Abby have been through things I could not know about or understand. But you have to know I'm on your side and it's not only me. When Captain Branson, Doom, your brother, the Professor and all the others heard about where you were, and what you'd done to get me out, they were all determined to come and rescue you."

"Mom and Dad would have been going crazy too" Calla realised.

"Yeah I'm not the only one who can't live without you. But speaking of you parents, unfortunately they're back in Sumatra with Sage, and so is my mother. Now we've got you and Abby, it's time for us to work out what we're gonna do about it."

"Yeah... you're right" Calla sniffed as she raised herself back to her feet.

"No, you're wrong!"

Calla and Blue spun around to see the source of the far too familiar voice. Standing with Gran were two of her guards, each one carrying a sawn off shotgun. Firefly and Daisy stared to move towards the intruders but Blue quickly called them back; he knew too well his dragons had no chance against these weapons at such close range.

"Oh... hello Phyllis" Calla sighed "and here was I hoping you'd be hiding under your bed like the coward you are."

"Shut up girl; not that it matters but I've been on top of the situation ever since the start of this pitiful attack. You'll be happy to know that I ordered your would be rescuers to be driven off and not harmed, if at all possible" Gran noted smugly.

"Oh?" Calla smirked "I assume that means you lost your appetite for maiming people after..."

Blue instantly noticed Calla's reluctance to complete her thought on the subject, and he began to have strong suspicions she may have been referring to herself as the maimed person. It all made sense, but why would Calla not want Blue to know if Gran were to blame for her injury?

"You can't win you know" Blue tried to reason "If I fail with the people I have, then I'll just come back later with greater numbers. But next time there will be no warning, no ultimatum, and no chance to avoid bloodshed. We leave intact with Calla and Abby, or all bets are off; our next visit will include more dragons and maybe even some bigger ones."

"Oh please" You may have been able to fool a few gullible people in a dark tunnel, but don't expect me to fall for this dragon nonsense. So you've trained a few lizards; well done but big deal."

"You know... at first I had some trouble believing these little fellows really were dragons as well. But I was soon proven wrong."

It may have been quite dark in the tunnel, but even in the low light Blue could clearly see Gran turn white as a ghost when she heard the new arrivals voice. One of the guards spun around and trained his shotgun on the tall, elderly man who had approached silently from behind.

"...no... it can't be..." Gran gasped.

"Oh but it can... and it is; long time no see Professor Lindstrom."

"Adisa... how did you get in here?"

"Under a flag of truce my dear" Linton gave a nod as he smiled sweetly "We've managed to capture most of your um... what would you call them... army?"

"I call them my friends" Gran sneered back.

"Oh... as you say... to continue, we managed to capture them, a young man named... um... Stanley agreed with me it would be best if you and I could talk for a moment."

"No... how could you capture... I was told you were small in number... and were retreating" Gran insisted.

"Ah yes; a tactic I am rather proud of, if I do say so myself" Professor Adisa smirked "It involved some burning trees and using several small dragons to heard your people, just as a sheepdog would."

"You're a fool Adisa" Gran hissed "You may have gotten the upper hand here but Sage is gonna eat you alive."

"Mister Sage and his little army are all on the other side of the world with only one single thought in mind; getting off this planet. I know I can't be complacent about him, but I do have to take care of one task at a time. And at the moment, I am more concerned with the welfare of Maynard and Ursula Linwood, who would be most pleased if I were to return their beautiful daughter to them."

"If they want to be with her, tell them they are invited to live here with us. I would never turn away family members" Gran argued.

"Unfortunately that is not possible but I do have a counter offer to make... if you and I could talk alone?"

After agreeing to hear what Professor Adisa had to say, Gran took him aside so they could speak confidentially.

"What's this counter offer all about Blue?" Calla asked as she slipped her hand into his.

"I don't know" Blue's voice had clear signs of concern "It isn't something we discussed before and I must admit, I have a bad feeling about this."

"Oh... you get those too huh?"

'

* * *

'

**Hello everyone and welcome Guest from Florida :)**

**Hope you weren't disappointed that the chainsaws weren't used for something more horror movie-ish.**

**You all may have seen the news stories about the horrid fires we've been having here so I just wanted to reassure you all that although I can smell the smoke and see it over the city, I am not in any danger as I don't live too close to where they are happening (about 10-15 kilometres away).**

**Don't overdo the sweets Vin and I'll be back with more story soon.**

_**From Marty with Love**_**(The Bond film that never was.)**


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

The two professors argued, talked and discussed for only a short time, but Blues anxiety made each minute feel like an hour. When it was finally over though, he was surprised at how good the news was.

"Alright then... you're free to go" Gran said distinctly when she returned.

"What... just like that?" Calla gasped.

"Yes" Gran nodded.

"After all we've been through, you just..."

"Never mind" Blue pulled at Calla's hand "Let's just get out of here."

"I'll be along presently" Professor Adisa said politely.

"You've said enough" Gran said tersely "you've got what you wanted so..."

"Please Professor Lindstrom, we will be on our way soon but I have a great need to ask you about a few important details."

Gran looked at Professor Adisa with suspicion, but reluctantly agreed to hear him out for now.

"You two; take the boy and the girl outside and release them" she ordered her guards.

This was not because Gran wanted to enact her agreement with Linton Adisa, but because she was not sure of what he would ask and there were some things she did not want her people to hear.

"Well... what is it?" she asked when they were alone.

"Ah... where to start" the Professor asked himself "I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to chat with some of the people who had been attempting to repel us, and when I asked why they felt so safe here, I was informed about a wonderful scanning radar you had installed at the top of this mountain. I was told it would inform you when a meteor was entering the atmosphere, thus giving everybody time to take shelter before the explosion."

It was clear to Professor Adisa that Gran was clearly uncomfortable with what he was saying.

"We both know that is not possible, don't we?" Linton continued "Based on the description of this radar provided to me, it sounds to me to be something more like a high band communications dish."

Again Gran made no reply, so Linton changed tack.

"After being released from my fifteen year self imposed exile in the underground Railgun Complex, the first thing I did was to travel to the Americas to look for answers. I believed it would be a long and arduous process involving much travel and searching but soon after I arrived in San Diego, I discovered my name was on a list of people who were to be arrested on sight and taken to Prime Governor Redding himself; of all the people it could have been, I ended up close to the man with all the answers."

Professor Adisa took careful note of Gran's complete lack of reaction to the mentioning of Redding's name.

"You were on that list too" he continued.

Again there was no reaction. Professor Adisa had not been able to study the list extensively, so he had no way of knowing if the name Phyllis Joyce Lindstrom was there or not, but it seemed to him that Gran had reason to believe it was.

"Before Redding died..."

"So he is dead" Gran interrupted "I had heard some news... but wasn't sure..."

"Oh yes, I was there when Sage shot him."

"That's what you get for trusting Sage" Gran smirked.

"True but this was an odd case, even for him" Linton explained "Redding had gone quite mad after learning about the unfortunate death of his grandson, and had ordered the execution of the entire Earth branch of the Deep Council... but I must get back on track. Before he died, Redding carelessly left me alone with his computer system and I was able to download quite a few files onto a memory stick. Unfortunately I have not yet had the chance to see what is in any of those files, but based on the fact that both you and Redding appear to be the only two people who do not fear the eventual destruction of Earth by one of the Sholf-4 meteors, I believe you can give me some kind of clue as to why that is and what is really happening here."

Gran walked a few steps further away from Linton as if the extra space would make her response easier to say. It was certainly clear to the Professor that she did not want to talk at all on this subject.

"Take your people and go" she finally replied.

"But Professor Lindstrom..."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT! You were identified and taken to Redding, so you should realise by now that some names are just too dangerous use flippantly."

Based on his own recent experiences, Professor Adisa could not help but agree with her.

"Alright... I understand Gran is the simple moniker you use these days. Can't you please give me some idea of..."

"I can't give you anything" Gran insisted "I... I'm frightened enough as it is. If anyone found out I..."

"Talked?" Linton asked when Gran hesitated.

"Just go... now! She stated and stormed off.

Now standing alone in the dimly lit tunnel, Professor Adisa sighed and wondered if he could have succeeded if he had been more understanding towards the frightened woman. Maybe he should have been firmer with her but in the end, he decided I the whole endeavour had been nothing but a lost cause from the start. He was sure she did not need to be so fearful, but it was very clear that Professor Phyllis Lindstrom had well and truly been broken.

'

* * *

'

When Blue and Calla finally arrived at the entrance of the tunnel system, they were surprised to see Emerson and Doom waiting for them. While she was still in the shadow of the tunnel, Calla removed her hand from Blue's and quickly pulled the hood of her jacket back over her head.

"Calla, you don't have to..."

"Please... I'll show them, I promise" she pleaded to Blue.

He smiled, nodded and taking her hand again, led the nervous girl outside.

"Hey Squirt, good to see you again" Doom smiled.

She move forward in greeting but Calla held up her arm.

"Before you do... there's something I um need to... listen, please don't over react."

Calla could see the concern in their eyes turn into shock when she pulled back her hood to reveal the scaring. This was only the second time she had been forced to do this and the thought of having to repeat the act over and over again filled her with dread.

"Oh Calla!" Doom knelt down to hug her young friend "What happened?"

Calla felt another hand on her shoulder and looked up to see her brother smiling with his usual 'it'll be okay' look in his eyes.

"I'll... I'll tell you about it later" she said to them.

"Umm... about that..." Doom began "come over here; we need to talk with you."

Emerson and Doom took Calla aside to a bench on the side of one of the outer buildings. Blue wondered what they had to talk about, but decided it would be best to give them privacy if they desired it.

"Calla... Doom and I have come to decision... and I'm sorry but you may not like it" Emerson began.

"I don't like it already" she replied.

"Ya see Squirt, we've been travelling a long time and we were looking forward to getting back to Sumatra and settling down... and getting married" Doom revealed.

"That's wonderful news" Calla sighed with relief "I can't believe you thought I wouldn't like..."

"Wait Calla, there's more" Emerson stoped his sister.

"Yes... your brother and I recently discovered... that... we're going to have a baby" Doom continued.

"More good news" Calla beamed.

"And that's why, with Sage still at the Railgun Complex and Blue planning to look for the home of the dragons... Doom and I have decided... to stay here."

A look of shear horror fell over Calla's face; she must have been dreaming and this must be one of the worst nightmares she'd ever had.

"WHAT THE HELL..." she cried out.

"Hey come on Squirt, keep your voice down" Doom tried to calm her friend "Emerson and I have several reasons for doing this..."

"Are you kidding me? I can't think of any reason why..."

"Well if you'll just shut up for a minute, we'll tell you" Emerson insisted.

Doom could not help but feel sorry for Calla. She didn't know how the girl had gotten her disfiguring injury, but coping with it while having to deal with a new loss must have been unbearable for her.

"Sweetie you have to get this straight in your head; the official reasons we are staying are to provide a stable home for our child instead of an uncertain life onboard a ship, and as a kind of swap for you and Abby."

"No... no... you can't give up your freedom for me..."

"We're not Calla" Emerson interrupted "While what we said is kinda true, the real reason is the Professor would like us to keep an eye out here and see if we can learn anything about what Gran knows about..."

"SCREW HIM; YOU DON'T HAVE TO..."

"Calla please" Doom squeezed the girls hands "Professor Adisa did not ask us to do this, we volunteered when we all heard what Abby told him."

"Yeah the Professor knew something was up as soon as he heard the name Phyllis Lindstrom" Emerson continued "And when the people we'd captured said they would pursue us all the way back to the east coast, Doom and I put two and two together and came up with this plan to get them off our backs, and hopefully learn something useful."

"The Professor said he would insist we be allowed to go back to the ship for our gear and while we're there, we're gonna get one of the satellite communication systems so we can keep in touch" Doom hoped this news would soften the blow.

"Gran's not gonna like that; if she catches you..."

"Oh we won't keep it a secret" Emerson grinned "We'll tell her it is so the Professor can warn us if Sage leaves Sumatra and sets out for the Americas. I think she'll like the opportunity to get an early warning."

"So... you're gonna be... spies?"

"Yup, and we're also going to sow a few seeds of doubt in the peoples mind about if this is the best place to be" Doom winked "Something you don't know is ever since you got back to Earth, a lot more action has been going on in space. It's not only Doctor Spencer's people who are actively constructing space habitats; when you get out of here, ask the Professor about the O'Neil Cylinders."

"They're building one of them inside the asteroid 16 Psyche" Calla shrugged "I know because I was there."

"Ah but there are two more being built you do not know about yet" Emerson smirked.

Calla sat back and thought for a moment; so much had happened and she was having a hard time keeping up with it all.

"There's one more thing" Doom looked seriously into Calla's eyes "Nobody knows about what we're doing except you and the Professor; you can't tell anyone."

Calla normally liked to be the keeper of secrets; it made her feel important to know what others didn't, but this time she felt she just couldn't.

"No... I can't keep this from Abby and Blue" she insisted "we've been through so much together and we've come to rely on each other. If I start lying to them..."

"Well make sure they know the gravity of the situation" Emerson said firmly.

"Are you kidding? We've been in space together; we all know about gravity."

"I'm serious Calla."

"Yeah sorry... it was a straight line I just couldn't pass up. Don't worry though, I have trusted them with my life and they have not let me down; I'll be sure they know how important this is."

"What about Mom and Dad?" Emerson asked.

"Oh I can lie to them, no worries" Calla waved off their concern.

"You really are an evil little gremlin" Doom smirked.

"Seriously though, I think it would be best is Mom and Dad thought we were here just to settle down and start a family" Emerson added.

"Okay" Calla agreed.

"Now what happened?" Doom asked "How did you get... this injury?"

Calla suddenly felt her stomach turn upside down. If Emerson and Doom knew Gran was to blame for her burn scar, would they be able to put the knowledge aside and fit in? What they were doing in this place was important and it would not be easy. She didn't want to lie to them, but she decided it would be better if they didn't know everything.

"I err... had an accident while cooking... a big pot of soup when it was my turn in the kitchen. You know me, I'd love to be able to blame someone else, but I just have to face up to the fact that I can be a little too impatient sometimes. If I hadn't tried to move the pot on my own, I wouldn't have live with this."

Doom and Emerson looked at each other. Neither of them knew why, but Calla's story just didn't seem right. In the end though, they decided to take her at her word for now. They returned to Blue who was still wondering what they had been discussing. Some of Calla's outbursts had been both confusing and a little disturbing but he figured if she needed to tell him what was going on, she would tell him in her own time.

"Hey, we're getting out of here" Calla smiled "Why are you looking so... blue?"

"Oh I wondered how long I would take you to make that joke" Blue groaned.

"Well I figure it's safe for me to make fun of you now" she said taking his hand "After all... you love me."

"Ah... but for how long?" Blue hinted as they walked towards the gate.

"Face it bright boy; I got you hooked."

Blue had to admit to himself she was right, but he didn't have to admit it to Calla quite yet. They were leaving and they were leaving together, and that was all that mattered for now.

**End of Act Two**

'

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'

**High everyone and welcome to the start of my 'Steven Universe style' hiatus. **

**With this part of the story done I'm gonna take a few weeks to just concentrate on the third act and not do any re-writes. Ten chapters are done but with the story slowly creeping towards the end, I would like to have a complete outline done before I go on with publishing. I thought of doing this after Christmas but I decided it would be cruel to take such a break in the middle of Act 2 with Calla and Abigail still trapped.**

**Special thanks to Vin in Italy (I think), the mysterious Guest from Florida, and Draco38 from (I assume) somewhere on Earth. I appreciate the notes you have dropped and the encouragement they have given me.**

**Back with more before too long,  
**_** Marty**_** (the bus driving, Ukulele playing amateur writer.)**


	31. Chapter 31

**Hi everyone and welcome back to the story. The little break I took was very productive and although there is still a lot of story to write, it is moving steadily towards the close.**

**Thanks for coming back, **_**Marty.**_

* * *

Blue Sky Falling

Act 3

Chapter 31

Calla sat on a small hatch cover on the foredeck of the One and All, taking in the power and grace of the rolling green sea. On her lap sat one small dragon with another curled up by her side. Doom had been very upset at having to give up Azrail for the time being, but she really believed it would not be good for her dragon to be separated from all its friends for an extended period of time. Calla did feel Emerson and Doom would be better off to have one of these loyal creatures by their side, but she honoured their decision and took the dragon into her care. Ever since Daisy had tracked Calla through Gran's tunnels, she too had been hesitant to leave the young girls side. This meant Calla was well on the way to becoming the modern equivalent of a Cat Lady, only with dragons.

It felt good to be back on the ocean and to be amongst friends at last, although she already missed being with Abigail. With sea travel being so new to the girl from Mars, it was decided to put her on the Sea Tug Striker as it was a much larger vessel, being twice the length as the Brigantine One and All, plus it had more amenities and greater stability. Calla had thought they would all stay together but Blue had wanted to travel with the Professor, Captain Branson on the One and All, so she had decided to go with him.

"Hey kid, how ya doin'?"

Then there was Haley Robinson; she was an inspirational young woman and it did not take long for she and Calla to become good friends.

"High there Haley; I thought you were on the helm."

"My shift is done for now, so Blues taken over."

"What? Look I know he's smart but Blue doesn't know how to navigate a ship" Calla declared "Well... maybe a space ship, but not a Brigantine."

"Neither could I when we left America, but Jack and the crew soon taught me. I understand you've had some sailing experience though" Haley noted.

"Yeah that's my vessel over there" Calla pointed to the sea tug, where the yacht Star Runner sat securely in its cradle on the stern deck.

"Yours?" Haley looked doubtful.

"It does belong to my Mom and Dad, ergo it's mine."

"Fair enough; I'm just used to thinking of it as belonging to Emerson and Doom."

The mention of her brother and best friend made Calla a little melancholy.

"Hmm... I hope they're alright."

"I would say they are; they've been through a lot and know what they're doing" Haley reassured the young girl "and don't forget they've got the Bull Ant to live in so no dark tunnel for them."

"Yeah... I suppose" Calla resigned herself.

"Of all the people I've met since your Professor friend came to El Centro with this rag tag bunch, your brother and Doom were high up in my list of good people... it's such a shame I can't say that about everyone."

Haley's face dropped before she got up and went back to work. Calla knew who she was talking about and it was a sore point for the one legged young lady. Everyone had been a reasonably good mood when the Bull Ant had arrived back at the east coast trading town with Calla and Abigail on board, and preparations to leave were progressing well. The small nuclear thermal unit they had used for electrical power had just been removed from the Bull Ant and was ready to be reinstalled on the Striker, when Joe appeared on the dock with his two friends from the restaurant, and they pulled a large cart behind them. Haley had been pleased to see them at first, assuming they may be joining the crew, but then they pulled the tarp off their cart to reveal a number of steel cages; Terrible Terror sized cages.

"What the hell are these for?" she asked although she was already certain of their purpose.

"Those little dragons will fetch a good price as pets that will also protect their owners; we'll make a killing."

"Not if I have any say about it" Haley barked.

"Well it's not up to you, so just stay out of our way" Joe threatened.

Haley had certainly not stayed out of their way. She called on Blue, Reed Branson and Jack Sumner to back her up and they all agreed. Professor Adisa tried to explain to the men that the dragons would suffer in the small cages and needed to be able to move around. Blue pointed out that they were incredibly intelligent and loyal, so to trade in dragons would be an obvious betrayal of their trust; but in the end the men said the One and All crew had no right to stop them.

Branson then said he would not allow the cages onto either of the ships but by the time he said it, the point was rather moot. Acting rather rashly, Blue and Haley had pushed the cart off the side on the dock and into the sea, before giving each other a congratulatory fist bump.

"HEY! YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO..." Joe started, but Haley just tossed him another bag of coins.

"Now get your stuff off our ship and get lost" she ordered.

"You don't have the authority" Joe sneered.

"But I do" Jack Sumner declared.

All three men left with curses on their lips and hatred in their hearts. Haley knew she and her friends would still be welcome by most people in the little coastal town high on the cliff, but it was such a shame to know they now had enemies there too.

Day after day the two ships sailed on across the North Atlantic. Calla spent much of her time either taking shifts on the helm, or teaching Blue the ins and outs of operating a sailing vessel. She taught him the difference between a sail and a sheet, a cleat and a cam, and explained that the poop had nothing to do with the number of Gulls overhead. He was eager to learn and she was willing to teach, and it also gave them opportunity to spend more time together.

After another extended time at sea, it was safe to say everyone was happy to arrive back to the island of Berk, but none more so than Maximilian DeGroot. The dragon historian assumed he would have a lot of trouble trying to convince his shipmates to return the original home of the Dragon Riders, but he need not have worried. They could not return to Sumatra till Sage and his army had left and now that the existence of dragons had been confirmed, Blue, Calla and especially Professor Adisa wanted to do some more exploration and study.

Upon landing, the old underground Dragon Stable was the first place they gathered because it took care of a number of the groups requirements; the biggest of these being instant shelter. In the time they had been gone, a few members of the islands Terrible Terror population had also moved into the stables, but they were quite pleased the see the return of the humans. These friendly two legged creatures who would sometimes provided fish and tummy rubs, were definitely welcome as far as these dragons were concerned.

Late in the evening, after she had set up her sleeping bag in a corner near Abigail, Calla casually drifted on over to the far end near the cliffside opening, where Blue was stowing his own gear.

"Hey Babe, whatcha got planned for tomorrow?" she asked him.

"Ah, good evening M'lady" he smiled "The first thing I want to do is explore the far side of the island. If any other species of dragon have settled here, I want to find them before they find us."

"Could they be dangerous?"

Could be is the right way to put it" Blue nodded "I think we could handle few Nadders or Gronckles, but Razorwhips may be a handful. Of course if we come across anything like a Changewing, best we just stay on our side of the island."

"Didn't I hear DeGroot saying something about a cave?" Calla remembered.

Yeah but I'd rather know the island first; and besides, DeGroot said something about it being a place of magic, and I for one do not believe in magic."

"Yeah it's nothing but superstition and legend... like dragons" Calla smirked.

Blue gave her a stare that said he was not impressed; it made her chuckle.

"Excuse me miss!" one of the Strikers crew called out "I was asked to bring this gear to you."

With limited space on the One and All, Calla and Blue had only taken what they needed with them, while the rest of their gear had been stored onboard the sea tug. Along with a backpack full of clothes and supplies, was something Calla was overjoyed to have back in her possession.

"Ah my axe; I was so pleased to find it was still on the Bull Ant" Calla squealed with glee.

Blue thought she looked so cute as she hugged the fire axe as if it were a puppy. In a strange way, it meant a lot to him too. Calla had found it on an abandoned fire truck back at Edwards Air Force Base when they first arrived back on Earth. As they travelled across the North American continent, she carried it almost everywhere but had not been given the opportunity to retrieve it when Gran's forces had kidnapped the three youngest members of the Bull Ant team. Seeing it again reminded him of the stripped down, half cooked Dream Chaser shuttle he had abandoned at Edwards.

"Are you gonna sleep with it under your pillow?" Blue smiled.

"I don't think it would fit" she replied honestly "Well, it's getting late."

Getting up on her toes, Calla gave Blue a goodnight kiss before giving him a mischievous look.

"Are you gonna kiss Axie goodnight?"

"No I am not going to kiss your axe goodnight" he sighed.

"He's called Axie" Calla insisted.

"Considering your usual naming method, I'm surprised you didn't call it the Star Axe" Blue smirked.

"Nah, I'm saving that name for a battleaxe made of titanium" she said quite seriously.

'

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'

**As I said before, the last six weeks have been very productive with a total of 58 chapters completed. Now that I've reached the end of Act 3 I figured it would be safe to start publishing again while doing the re-writes and proof reading, then I can start on chapter 59. I'll try and put up two per week, so see you all again in a few days time.**

**Marty :) **


	32. Chapter 32

**Hi everyone. It was good to watch the reader count going up so thank you all for coming back and thanks for the greeting Vin :D**

* * *

Chapter 32

Nobody knew it at the time, but the following morning on Berk was something very special. First the dragons woke everyone up at the crack of dawn, then they all rose and prepared breakfast, and finally the leaders of the group spent ten minutes or so going over what needed to be done that day. So what was special about it? Well it turned out to be a blueprint of the way they would spend every morning while they were on the island of the Dragon Riders.

"Please Master Blue, visiting Gothi's cave should not take too long" Maximilian DeGroot begged.

"I told you last night, I want to explore the rest of the island first" Blue replied sternly.

Captain Branson hoped he may have the answer to the problem.

"Look DeGroot if this cave is so important to you, then I can spare you a couple of crew members to..."

"No Captain; I appreciate the offer, but the whole point is to show it to the Heir of the Dragon Riders."

"You could take Abby" Calla suggested "She's an heir too."

"Most certainly she can come, but Blue must be there; it is most important not to disturb the timeline."

"DeGroot, I have no idea what you are talking about" Blue shook his head "but know this; I will not allow an exploration team to go out beyond the safety of the village area without a dragon expert to guide them, and there are only two dragon experts on this island."

"You and I" DeGroot acknowledged.

"Yes; so you can either wait here for me to get back, or you can come too."

'I um... don't think I would be able to handle the journey" DeGroot admitted "I'm not as fit as I used to be."

"I understand" Blue smiled reassuringly "I'll do my best to get back early, so maybe we can go to the cave later today, or tomorrow morning at the latest. It's been waiting there for a thousand years, so I think it can wait a little longer."

'

* * *

'

DeGroot was not the only man on the island who could not have things his own way. Because over one thousand years ago, Stoick the Vast found that being the Chief of Berk did not mean he always got what he wanted; especially when it came to his twelve year old son Hiccup.

The dragons had attacked again last night. Two housed had been burnt to their foundations and one third of the village livestock had been taken. When compared to the usual level of destruction and losses normally suffered in a dragon raid, this was actually quite a good result; the real problem for Stoick was Hiccup had tried to help again.

"When I look at how sour your face is Chief, it reminds me of that crate of lemons Trader Johann brought us last fall. They were good on the grilled fish though."

Stoick looked up to see the normally broad chin of Gobber the Belch, grow even broader as he grinned.

"Please Gobber, I'm not in the mood for levity this morning; Hiccups actions last night were inexcusable. We may have been able to save Sven's home if we hadn't been forced to rescue the boy from that Nadder."

"You gotta admit though, he's got courage" Gobber nodded.

"BUT WHAT GOOD WOULD COURAGE DO HIM, IF IT GETS HIM KILLED?" Stoick cried out in frustration.

The massive chief turned his back on his friend and adviser to look out over the smouldering village. The people of Berk scurried to and fro clearing, cleaning and fixing; each one with a smile on their face and song on their lips, directly contrasting the demeanour of their leader.

"Don't get me wrong Gobber I do love the boy dearly, but there's no denying he is a walking fishbone with all the co-ordination of a headless Yak."

"Well he's not totally useless Chief" Gobber noted "For example, do you know where he got the dagger he attacked that dragon with?"

"A DAGGER GOBBER" Stoick threw up his arms "Who in their right mind would attack a Nadder with a short bladed knife?"

"Only a fool" Gobber nodded "But my point is, he made it himself."

Stoick turned his head to see Gobber offering the weapon for the Chief to peruse.

"Notice how consistent the blade thickness is, and the quality of the handle binding. I like to think I'm one of the best sword smiths ever to fire a forge, but when I was a boy I had no hope of making such a blade."

"So... what are you saying Gobber?" Stoick asked "Hiccup is my son; I have to train him to be chief someday."

"Is there any law that says the future chief can't help provide his people with the best weapons?"

"I... I guess there isn't" Stoick realised "It would keep him busy during the fighting, and might just give him confidence knowing he was helping."

"Aye... I don't think telling him to hide in a hole was good for his self esteem at all."

"I had to keep him safe Gobber" Stoick scowled.

"Oh aye I don't blame you for that, but maybe working at the forge as my apprentice would be a better option."

"Yes... ... YES!" Stoick punched the air "I'll go tell him straight away."

"No you won't; Gothi wants to see the boy first."

"Why didn't you tell me that in the first place?" Stoick scowled.

"Uh... slipped my mind?" Gobber shrugged.

"Do you know what she wants?"

"Aye Chief; she wants to take him to the cave" Gobber revealed.

"The cave? Are you sure?"

"Oh Gothi made it quite clear; as you can see here... and here" Gobber had taken off his helmet to show Stoick the lumps on his head made by Gothi's staff.

"Ah... I see she was quite adamant about it" Stoick nodded.

'

* * *

'

**Sorry this one was so short, but there will be another one in a few days.  
Bye for now, **_**Marty **_**:)**


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Maximilian DeGroot made sure nobody was watching him as he yawned. The last time Reed Branson had seen the odd little man show any sign of boredom, he had been offered some very difficult work by the One and All's captain to help pass the time. Waiting for Blue to call may have been tedious, but it did give him time to make alterations to the ancient maps of the island.

"Exploration Team to Berk HQ; are you reading me?"

DeGroot jumped in his chair and almost fell over backwards. He grabbed at the two-way radio and almost dropped it as he fumbled carelessly.

"Yes... yes I can be reading... I mean I read you loud and clear. Is it there, did you find it?"

"Uh... yeah we found it; right where the map said it would be" the radio crackled.

"Oh I wish I could see it" DeGroot sighed "Is it just like the drawings?"

Blue looked over the sinkhole where Hiccup Haddock of Berk had made history by befriending a Night Fury over a thousand years ago.

"Weeeell... kind of... but it has changed a bit over the years."

"Changed how?" DeGroot asked.

"It's a high sided lake now; looks like the mountain stream that fed the pond has increased its flow since the days of the Vikings, so the pond now covers the entire sinkhole to a depth of about one to two meters. Still, not all bad news; we could easily run a gravity fed pipe down to the village from here and have a permanent fresh water supply on tap."

"Yes... that is good news... I suppose...can't expect everything to be exactly the same I suppose."

"That's the spirit Max" Blue tried to cheer him up "What's an old land mark when you have dragons? Speaking of which, Firefly led us to this spot so I get the feeling he's been here before. He and the other dragons went for a swim and brought back a few fish for their lunch. We're continuing on to the far side of the island."

"Okay... I mean roger" DeGroot corrected himself "Keep me apprised of your progress."

"Will do, Exploration Team out."

Blue clipped the two-way radio back onto his belt and shouldered his backpack before addressing Calla.

"Ready to continue m'lady?"

"I am" she replied "but I can't speak for several lazy dragons who seem to want to have a post lunch nap."

"Well fortunately they're Terrors and not Gronckles" Blue noted as he picked up Firefly and placed the dragon on his shoulder.

It did not take the dragon long to position himself on top of Blues backpack before closing his eyes once more. All the other dragons did likewise except for Azrail, who seemed to be full of energy; she flew circles around the group as they continued on to the far side of the island.

Berk may not have been the biggest island in the archipelago but it was quite hilly in parts so, the party founds paths through the overgrown forest quite difficult to come by. Eventually though, they managed to find large clearing with several large winged beasts aimlessly wandering about while grazing. Each one had a spike overed body and was roughly the same size as an elephant, but with much shorter legs. The head looked like that of a tortoise with a forward facing horn on each side, and a single horn pointing up on top.

"Whoa... what the heck is that?" Haley gasped.

"That my dear shipmate is a dragon known as a Buffalord" Blue grinned.

"Are they dangerous?" one of the party asked nervously.

"Looks pretty docile to me" Calla shrugged.

"And you'd be right" Blue agreed "You have be careful as those spikes on its body make an excellent defence but if we don't act aggressively, they should ignore us."

To test his informed theory, Blue slowly walked out into the clearing. Although he did draw closer to the dragons, they could all se he was not walking directly at them; so they simply watched him with mild interest while chewing on the herbs growing on the field.

"Okay it seems safe" Blue called back "Everyone follow me along the same line."

One by one the entire party crossed the field as the dragons continued to show little concern about their presence.

"Look at the size of them" a sailor from the Striker remarked "They must be the biggest dragons of all."

"Not even close" Blue remarked, causing a shiver to run up the man's spine.

Firefly's nostrils flared as the smell of strange dragon wafted towards him. The suddenly alert Terrible Terror sat up and looked around, spying the docile dragons to his left.

"Hey, where are you going?" Blue tried to keep his voice low when his dragon flew off.

The entire group held their breath as Firefly circled the Buffalord heard before landing near the one closest to Blue.

"Rrooowl" the little dragon seemed to be giving some kind of greeting.

The massive Buffalord lowered its head and the two dragons just sniffed at each other. A low rumble emitted from deep within the Buffalord's chest, sounding something like the purr of a kitten that weighed several tons. The other Terrors reacted to the sound by waking up, looking over at Firefly, then laying down their heads and going back to sleep.

"Wait here" Blue told the group as he took a few steps closer to the dragons.

"Like hell" Calla replied as she took his hand.

Daisy opened one lazy eye when she felt Calla turn but did not seem overly interested in the new direction.

"Hello" Blue said softly.

He held out the back of his hand for the Buffalord to inspect and prompted Calla to do the same. As soon as the beast seemed satisfied with their smell and manor, Blue turned his hand palm up and reached out for the creatures chin. He was pleased to discover that the Buffalord enjoyed the attention just as much as the Terrors had.

"I'm amazed he's so calm" Calla smiled.

"Oh he knows he could kill us with one blow if we tried anything" Blue said what Calla did not want to hear "so it's good he now knows we're not a threat."

At first Calla wondered if she should start backing up, but if Blue could make friends with the dragon, maybe she could too.

"Aren't you beautiful?" she cooed as she reached out and lightly rubbed the creature's nose.

To her surprise, the dragon actually pushed its snout firmly into her hand, expressing its desire to be petted.

"Aww how sweet" she grinned.

Unable to stop gushing, Calla moved her hand up to the top of the creatures head and gave it a big hug.

"Can I keep him?" she asked.

"I... don't think so" Blue shook his head "I doubt a Buffalord would be as easy to domesticate as a Terrible Terror.

'

* * *

'

Acute paranoia is a very unhealthy malady to endure. A sufferer feels constantly on edge and has much trouble sleeping, making their fears even worse. Unfortunately for Doctor Sarah Spencer, Sage's levels of paranoia were currently reaching brand new heights. Late one night inside the main staging areas, the last group of technicians had just arrived from deep in the tunnel, where they had spent the last twelve hours installing some of the massive electromagnets in the lower section of the railgun. The only things ahead of them now were food and sleep followed by an almost identical day tomorrow.

Sage stood in the shadows and watched as the exhausted group stowed their equipment before bidding each other goodnight. The beam of a small torch came on as soon as the main lights had been turned off; now it was time for Sage to go to work.

"Are you sure this is necessary sir?" Cason Rake asked.

The light from Sage's torch was pointed up in the eyes of his companions.

"You don't seriously think you can trust them, do you Rake?"

"No sir, but in all this time, we haven't found anything wrong with any of the capsules, or the rocket boosters."

"And you would know if you saw something wrong; some piece of sabotage perhaps?" Sage sneered sarcastically.

"No sir, but you would; and still we haven't found anything" Lex Morrison agreed with Rake.

"Well I'm still not satisfied" Sage shone his light around the room.

He paused the beam on several pieces of equipment while trying to work out in his head, how each one could possibly be made deadly without anyone noticing.

"Maybe I'm missing the obvious" Sage mumbled "Maybe Spencer's people knew I would go over the capsules with a fine toothed comb, and found a better way to..."

Morrison and Rake looked at each other and shrugged when their leader fell silent.

"Of course..." Sage continued "... the railgun itself."

Soon the three men were inside one of the Work Trams, making their way down to the end of the tunnel. Carson Rake tried to hide his yawn as he faced the fact there would be very little sleep for he and Morrison that night.

'

* * *

'

"Hey there Hiccup, can you do me a favour?" Snotlout called out with an evil grin on his face

"Considering how nicely you ask, how could I refuse" Hiccup replied even though he knew it was only a set up.

"Can you steer clear of my house please? It wasn't badly damaged in the last attack and I'd prefer you didn't burn it to the ground during the next one."

"I didn't burn anyone's house down Snotlout."

"Maybe not, but it took seven Vikings to get you out of trouble last night. With you around we may as well burn down the village ourselves. You're not working for the dragons, are you?"

"No Snotlout, I am not working for the dragons" Hiccup sighed.

"Come on, you call tell me; how much are they paying you?"

"WILL YOU PLEASE JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?" Hiccup cried out in frustration.

Snotlout strutted away, laughing and with his head held high. He felt very sure his chances of becoming the next Chief of Berk ere very good indeed. Hiccup sighed again and started to clear up some debris near the edge of town, well away from the other villagers where no one would abuse him. As he worked, he mumbled softly and cursed himself for being foolish enough to think he could ever be a hero. Hiccup was so caught up in his work and self loathing, that he did not notice someone else was approaching.

"Hey Hiccup" Astrid called out.

Startled beyond belief, Hiccup jumped up and spun around to face the pretty young girl and promptly dropped the heavy stone he was lifting.

"Oh... hi Astrid, it's good to see OWW!" he declared as the stone block landed on his left foot.

"There you go again" Astrid hissed "The way you're going, you'll end up losing a foot someday. Stop letting yourself get distracted and concentrate on what you're doing."

"Thanks Astrid, I'll..."

"I'm serious Hiccup, look around you and what do you see?"

"Um... Vikings... cleaning up and repairing stuff..."

"They're doing what they know; they're doing what needs to be done" Astrid interrupted "and that's why you are such a failure. Everyone else is working to build the village, strengthen the village, feed the village, defend the village. All you ever do is destroy the village in a vain attempt to impress your father."

"So you only came here to tell me how useless I am" Hiccup shrugged.

"No I came to tell you Gothi wants to see you right now" she replied "the rest was for my benefit."

"Oh well... glad I could help" Hiccup turned and went back to what he was doing.

"Didn't you hear me? I said Gothi..."

"I know, Gobber told me" Hiccup declared "But she wants me to go to that weird cave so..."

"Stop it Hiccup; stop just doing what you want and try doing what is expected of you for a change. Gothi's waiting, so shift your butt and GO!"

"Okay... since you've put it so eloquently" he replied, resigned to his fate.

'

* * *

'

**It felt good writing about the Buffalords. Sometimes I wish I could put new dragons in every chapter, but it just doesn't work out that way.**

**Happy to see you made the connection Vin, I wasn't sure it would work.**

**Back soon, Marty**


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Just like everyone else on Berk, Hiccup held Gothi in high regard. Not only was she wise but she was also very insightful; unfortunately she could also be very stubborn. If she wanted to see Hiccup, then maybe Gothi wanted to help him. But perhaps she just wanted to hit him with her staff as punishment for his part in the burning down of someone's home.

"You sent for me?" Hiccup asked when he found Gothi waiting patiently outside her door.

At first Hiccup wondered if the elderly lady had nodded off as she stood quietly with her eyes closed, but after a few seconds she lifted her face and gave the boy a knowing smile. Making sure her pack was well and truly secured over her shoulder, Gothi set off down the stairs towards the village.

"What the... why did you make me come all the way up here if we were only going back down again? Oh yeah... the cave."

Of course the wise old lady did not answer him because she never spoke. The villagers all showed their respect for Gothi as they passed by, so being in her company meant no one hurled abuse at Hiccup, or made any kind of snide comments as the pair made their way through the town. Even one very annoyed viking who had hurled his hammer at the boy earlier just watched them pass out of the corner of his eye. After half an hour of walking, Hiccup started to get a strong sinking feeling about their destination.

"Err... Gothi, I don't mean to be disrespectful but if you're taking me to your magical cave of revelation, I think you should know I am not like other Vikings."

Gothi stopped, turned and gave Hiccup the most sarcastic look he had ever seen.

"Yes well I understand it's obvious I'm not like other Vikings, but what I mean is you won't need to use the threat of bad omens or sock stealing trolls to get through to me. I know it's just your clever way of making stubborn, superstitious Vikings listen to common sense. We can talk... or whatever, any place you want."

Gothi smiled and nodded in agreement which made Hiccup very happy. Now they could go back home where it was warm and safe instead of climbing up this windy hill towards Mount Berk; or so Hiccup thought. To his surprise, Gothi kept walking slowly up the hill so the young man decided to try again.

"Did you understand Gothi? I said we could talk anywhere you..."

Gothi turned and gave Hiccup a quizzical look and he finally understood; wherever they were going, was exactly where Gothi wanted them to be.

'

* * *

'

Everyone was pleased to see Blue and the Exploration Team arrive back at the ruins of the Viking village that evening, and none more so than Max DeGroot. Although his face soon fell when Blue declared it was too late in the day for another expedition to the foot of the mountain.

"Okay I agree you've been very patient, and I promise we will go in the morning... assuming there are no surprise emergencies" Blue tried to cheer DeGroot up a little.

"Hmm... but what would you consider to be and emergency" DeGroot asked sceptically.

"Don't worry Max; we'll get there in the end" Blue smiled and walked off, leaving the dragon historian to stew in his doubts.

'

* * *

'

Although she found the hike around Berk to be both exciting and enjoyable, slightly sore feet were one result Calla had to deal with. Giving them a good soak in a basin of warm water certainly helped, and this was what Abigail found her friend doing deep inside the underground dragon stables.

"If you're almost done, dinner is almost ready."

"Fish stew again?" Calla asked.

"No, something different tonight; grilled fish and salad."

It was difficult to argue about the number of meals consisting of seafood. It may have been monotonous but at least it was fresh and everyone was well fed. Most of the limited number of chickens kept on board the Striker had been transferred to newly built pens on the island, but their eggs were mainly consumed only for breakfast.

"Fair enough; have you seen Blue at all?"

"Yeah he's out on the western cliff with Professor Adisa having a deep and meaningful conversation" Abigail replied "You wanna go get 'em?"

"May as well; are you two coming?" Calla asked the dragons on her bed as she reached out for a towel to dry her feet.

Later as the sun dipped below the horizon, Calla found Blue and the Professor precisely where Abigail had said they would be. As soon as Firefly saw Daisy and Azrail flitting around Calla's feet, he jumped off Blue's shoulder and chased after them.

"Hey guys; have you solved all the world problems yet?" she called out.

"No... but we're working on it" Linton Adisa smiled.

"Time for evening munchies" she informed them.

"You go on ahead" Blue told the Professor "I want to talk to Calla first."

"Alright my boy, good luck; you'll need it."

Blue invited his girlfriend to sit down beside him and she happily took up the offer, taking his hand in hers. The whole scene looked very romantic with the sunset throwing long shadows behind the three Terrible Terrors play fighting in the grass. Calla could soon tell by the look on Blue's face, that he had more on his mind than the pretty girl by his side.

"Have umm... you thought about what you want to do when Sage is gone and we can go back to Sumatra?" he eventually asked.

"Err... no... I just assumed we would help with the evacuation of Earth and then join our parents somewhere out in the solar system."

"Yeah... me too" Blue sighed.

"But..?" Calla prompted.

"But... well... what would you say if I told you I was thinking of staying on Earth?"

"I'd say why, and I'd say it very loudly."

"Hmm... that makes sense" Blue gave a little chuckle.

"So why do you want to say on Earth?" Calla made the question quite plain.

"Short answer, dragons" Blue admitted.

"Does the long answer have any more detail to it?"

"It was finding those Buffalord; if they have returned to the surface world, then..."

"Whoa, hold on a second; surface world?" Calla gasped.

"When the dragons disappeared a thousand years ago, the Vikings say they went to a place called the Hidden World. Two of my ancestors even saw it with their own eyes" Blue revealed.

"And this was in one of those old books?" Calla asked.

"There are several references to the Hidden World in a few of the old Viking texts; and if the Buffalord found their way out, how many others have too? And for that matter, how many more may come in the future?"

"And you want to be here to see them" Calla noted.

Standing up, Blue began to pace back and forth as he spoke.

"For the first fifteen years of my life, everything was the same. I went from learning how to maintain the railgun launch facilities, to actually maintaining the railgun launch facilities. But ever since the day we opened up the complex, life has been a constant adventure from Sumatra, to space, to the Asteroid Field, back to Earth, across the North American continent and on to Berk. I almost died after escaping from Gran's mountain refuge and that set me thinking; I just don't feel ready for this part of the adventure to end yet."

"I suppose it's true; when we leave Earth, it will probably be forever" Calla realised.

"And how does that make you feel?" Blue asked.

"Confused I guess" Calla admitted "I've been looking forward to our future in space, but finding the dragons..."

"Yeah... the dragons" Blue agreed "I mean I've always known the eventual destruction of Earth would mean the end of everything we left behind."

"From hamsters to elephants" Calla sighed.

"Gold fish to whales" Blue agreed "But for some reason, the thought of loosing every last dragon really bothers me."

"But can we save them?" Calla asked.

"No... I doubt it."

Blue sat back down heavily and let his chin rest on the backs of his fingers.

"All rather depressing really" Calla noted as she assumed the same pose "So if we stay, what happens when the big one comes?"

"Sarah has already launched observation satellites to try and find Sholf-4, and there are more trackers being set up in the Asteroid Belt. It's only a matter of time before we find it, and then we'll be able to calculate its orbit and predict when Sholf-4 itself or any of its cloud asteroids, will hit the Earth. We should know the precise time it'll hit weeks or even months in advance, so we'd still be able to get off planet in plenty of time, assuming we can get back to Sumatra."

"For sure?" Calla asked doubtfully.

"No... but I feel reasonably confident.

"What if we're the only ones who want to go looking for dragons?" Calla wondered.

"I must admit, I haven't quite worked out the details yet."

"Well we've always got the Star Runner, but some of the others are pretty smitten with the Terrors so I'd think there would be a few who would like to go with us."

"Us... does that mean..?" Blue smiled.

"Hey, I missed out on being the first to discover a dragon, do you think I'd pass up the chance to be among the first to befriend a monstrous sized one?"

'

* * *

'

**Funny how things work out. All of the fires are out here at last (even though the fire season goes on), but now I have to be careful every time I pick up people from the airport or a cruise ship. We drivers have been given anti-bacterial cleaning kits for the buses but I'm not sure how effective they'll be. I feel pretty sure I'll get this Covid-19 flu eventually but I'm not too woried about dying from it. Nearly twenty years ago I asked my doctor if I could skip taking antibiotics each time I git the flu and he said sure. Since then I have built up a pretty strong immunity so when the flu hits, it never lasts more than a day whereas it used to last a week or two. ****Of course I know this one is different so if it hits, I'll be doing whatever the Doc tells me to do. **

**Take good care of yourselves out there everyone, and I'm sure we'll get through this eventually. Hearing a lot about what has happened in Italy so thinking about you Vin.**

**More story soon, _Marty._**


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

The gentle slope outside the village of Berk soon became a steep climb as Hiccup and Gothi made their way to the foot of the islands mountain. The travellers trudged on for almost two hours before they finally reached their destination. True it was a cave, but it was a cave like nothing Hiccup had ever seen before. A short way inside there was a wooden wall with a small locked door in the center. Gothi took off her pack and fumbled inside it for a few seconds before pulling out some pieces of flint. She used the flint to light a torch on the wall, unlocked the door and beckoned Hiccup to follow her inside.

Hiccup had to stoop over to avoid hitting his head in the cave but Gothi stood tall with plenty of room to spare. She lit a second torch mounted on the inner wall and gave it to Hiccup before leading him further inside. A few bumps on the head later, the young man found himself in a larger cavern with a faint light coming from the far side. Hiccup first thought there must be an opening to the outside, but he soon discovered the glow came from some strange blue gemstones encrusted in the wall, covering an area the size of the average shield.

"Wow!" he exclaimed and reached out to touch one.

A sharp tap on the skull from the old woman's staff warned Hiccup away and added to his current set of lumps as the wise Gothi motioned for the boy to step back and stand on a spot marked on the ground. She then took Hiccup's torch from him and placed it on a nearby stand before placing hers in a similar one on the opposite side of the cavern.

"Ah so that's what those stands were for" Hiccup realised "When Gobber and I made them for you, we assumed..."

Hiccup decided not to finish his thought when Gothi tapped him lightly on the head again. When she was sure she had the boys full attention, Gothi stood in front of him and motioned for him to look at the small cluster of gems in the wall.

"What am I looking for; what should I be seeing?" he asked as he stared intently.

Gothi reached inside her pack and removed two items; a small covered clay pot the size of an apple and a wooden box containing a selection rune tiles. She placed the pot down and opened the rune box, handing one to Hiccup.

"You're kidding me" he declared as he read the rune for future.

Needless to say, Gothi hit him again before handing him three more tiles.

"Not, mind and see" Hiccup read aloud "I don't get it."

Gothi looked down and rearranged the tiles and turned the one for 'mind' sideways.

"See, remember not; are you saying I'm going to see the future but not remember what I saw?"

Gothi smiled and gave a nod.

"Excuse me for being sceptical, but isn't that just a little too convenient? You could tell me I saw the future when I only OWW!"

Hiccup rubbed his head and decided it would be good for his heath if he gave the old woman the benefit of the doubt for now.

Gothi stared menacingly at Hiccup for a few second to make sure he was ready before she picked up the clay pot and removed the lid. Inside he saw a fine sand of red crystals; Hiccup thought they looked like crushed red gems, similar to the blue ones set in the wall. Gothi took a small pinch of the jars contents and flicked it at the wall and much to Hiccups surprise, the light from the blue gems shone through the red dust and began to swirl in an eerie purple haze.

"Whoa how are you doing..." Hiccup began but stopped when Gothi reached for her staff.

He stared intently at the strange reflected light for a moment until a figure appeared in the image, causing Hiccup to inhale sharply. Gothi pointed to the light haze and then to her mouth, encouraging Hiccup to speak of what saw.

"Can't you see it too?" he asked and the old woman shook her head.

"It's me and I'm wearing some kind of leather vest or harness; this is amazing" he declared in wonder.

Without realising it, Hiccup just stared silently at the image until Gothi kicked him in the shin.

"OWW, sorry I forgot. Well I seem to be walking somewhere and talking to someone but I can't see where or who; I can only see myself. I'm smiling and laughing, so that's a good sign because I don't have many reasons to smile right now. I guess I must be chatting to Fishlegs because he's the only one who is speaking to me at the... oh."

Gothi gazed expectantly for a moment before prodding Hiccup to continue.

"Couldn't have been Fishlegs because I just kissed whoever it was before waving goodbye. This is disturbing because there are only two girls my age on Berk; one is crazy and the other one talks to me the same way my father does."

Hiccup suddenly froze and turned as white as a sheet.

"Wait a minute; WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LEG?" he cried out.

'

* * *

'

"Come on, come on" DeGroot urged Blue as he finished off his breakfast.

"Alright Max, just let me get my backpack."

"You don't need it; I've got water, a little food, a first aid kit..."

"Have you got a two-way radio?" Blue asked.

"What for? We'll be back before lunch time" DeGroot threw up his arms in frustration.

There was no point in arguing because Blue was not about to leave the village camp without any means of keeping in contact. It should have only taken a minute for him to get what he needed but as usual, it took over fifteen minutes due to all the people who would stop the young man to ask advice on how to train their pet Terrors. During this time, Blue asked Calla and Abigail if they wanted to join him, taking up even more time.

"Thanks, but I've got a lot of things to do down here; maybe next time" Abigail told them.

Calla on the other hand would not want to miss the chance to see more of the island, so after another pause for her to put on her hiking boots, the trio were finally on their way, accompanied by three happy dragons.

"Did you know the Dragon Riders used to use these little guys to deliver messages?" Blue said as they walked.

"Don't be silly; of course I knew" DeGroot huffed.

"Erm... I was talking to Calla" Blue sneered.

"Just like leathery carrier pigeons huh?" the young lady replied.

"Yup" Blue nodded.

He was so relieved Calla had agreed to join the minor expedition; it would have been a very stressful trip if he'd only had grumpy DeGroot for company. Blue did not want to admit it, but he did want to see what the dragon historian had discovered. The only reason he had been delaying the short journey was to teach DeGroot a lesson about being patient, and not forcing his personal schedule onto everyone else. Blue had still not forgiven the older man for sabotaging his first trip across the Atlantic, even though the redirection had led them to Berk.

Bad weather could be seen on the horizon to the south of the island but with the prevailing wind coming from the west, Blue crossed his fingers hoping it would not come much closer. If it did, the group would not know until later in the morning because after a long and solid march, they had finally reached the cave. They removed the torches from their backpacks and shone them into the uninviting tunnel.

"Why is it we can never stay above ground?" Calla wondered as she followed the others inside.

The curious trio had not gone far inside when DeGroot made the first of many discoveries.

"Look at this ironwork on the walls" he pointed his light "a thousand years ago, there was a wall put here to keep the villagers out, unless they were accompanied by Gothi herself."

"Cool" Calla shrugged with an indifference DeGroot did not like.

The two men both walked stooped over, but Calla found she could stay upright most of the time. They moved slowly and steadily, shining beams of light over every inch of the cave, looking for any relic or clue. At last they reached a slightly larger cavern at the end of the tunnel but as they moved their torches in all directions, DeGroot gradually became more and more agitated.

"No...NO... IT SHOULD BE HERE!" his voice echoed in the chamber.

Blue was not surprised to find the cave empty, so he tried to console the upset man.

"I don't know what you're referring to Max, but after a thousand years..."

"No you don't understand; what was here could not be moved" he stated, almost in tears.

"What couldn't be moved?" Calla shrugged and almost burst out laughing at DeGroots reply.

"The magic lights."

While the cave was an interesting discovery, it appeared to have very little to hold their interest. Blue decided to give DeGroot a few more minutes to look around before insisting they begin the journey back to the Berk village.

"Hey watch where you're pointing that thing!" Calla snapped when DeGroot's torchlight shone straight into her eyes.

Blue looked down at the powerful light in his hand and a thought crossed his mind.

"Wait a minute, everyone stand still and turn off your torches."

They all did as requested and the cave was instantly plunged into total darkness.

"Woo... spooky" Calla declared.

"Wait... just for a minute" Blue urged.

Ever so slowly, their eyes began to adjust to the darkness and Calla could make out the faint outline of Blue's silhouette. It soon became clear to everyone that a faint blue light was emitting from the wall opposite the tunnel entrance.

"oh..." DeGroot whimpered with joy.

Even though the cave was still quite dark, Calla could tell the odd man was close to tears. The light was very pretty, but she could not understand why they had gone to so much trouble to see it.

"Okay, everyone stand still a bit longer" Blue said as returned to the tunnel.

Treading very carefully, the young man made his way back the way they had come until he could not see his way anymore. Blue then carefully placed his torch on the ground, pointed it away from the cavern and placed his jacket over it before switching it on. The dull light gave just enough illumination for everyone to see what they were doing, while still being able to clearly make out the soft glow from the far wall.

"Brilliant idea m'boy" DeGroot said as he removed his backpack and placed it on the ground.

"So this is the... I almost hate to say it, the magic place you've been looking for?" Blue asked.

"Yes... oh yes... I'm sure it is" DeGroot voice wavered as he fished through the bottom of his pack.

"I must admit, it's very pretty" Calla smiled.

"Oh it's much more than that" DeGroot said excitedly as he removed a small clay pot, roughly the size of an apple.

Holding the pot with great care, DeGroot looked down at the ground near the glowing light.

"Stand right there!" he ordered Blue "Now if this works, you won't remember what happens afterwards so be sure to tell Miss Calla and I everything you see."

"I won't remember?" Blue repeated "How does that work?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, but if Gothi's writings can be believed, you should come face to face with your ancestor, and you must ask him how to get to Dragon Island."

Without any further explanation, DeGroot lifted the lid from the jar, took a pinch of the red dust inside, and flicked it into the glowing blue light. Both Calla and Blue were surprised to see the light begin to swirl in an eerie purple haze. To Calla it was just a wondrous psychedelic vision, but for Blue there was so much more to see. The twisting image slowly settled into what appeared to be a translucent window and on the other side, Blue could clearly see a young boy with scruffy clothes and even scruffier hair. As he stared, he noticed the boy appeared to be staring back until much to Blues surprise, the boy spoke.

"Gothi... there's someone else in there!" he declared as he pointed at Blue.

'

* * *

'

**Sorry this one is a day late, but I've been rather busy writing the later chapters.**

**Something else has happened too; three days ago I came down with a slight chesty cough. It wasn't bad but I thought under the current covid-19 circumstances, I should take the day off. I had been doing a lot of bus work all last week at the airport and with students from overseas so if I had caught something, I didn't want to give it to anyone else.**

**When I called the company I work for, they told me even if I was well, I should not come back till after I have been tested (this should happen tomorrow). So the result has been that I (who normally works seven days a week), have had three days off with more to come. Result – A heck of a lot of writing done (yay). Of course I can't be 100% sure, but I hope to have finished the story before I go back to work.**

**Good to hear you're still well Vin, all the best to you, your family and of course all the other readers out there. **

**Bye for now, **_**Marty.**_


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

* * *

For a short time, the two boys just stared at each other until DeGroot finally broke the silence.

"Well, what do you see?"

"Oh... it's a boy... looks to be about ten years old..."

"I'm twelve" the boy replied "I just... haven't had a growth spurt for a few... years."

"Sorry, he's twelve; my name is Blue Dias" Blue introduced himself.

"Hey Gothi, he says his name is Bloo Deeaz; weird name huh?" the boy smiled.

"And you are?" Blue asked.

"Hiccup Haddock; Son of Stoick."

"What? You are the legendary Dragon Master?" Blue's face fell.

DeGroot almost fainted upon hearing Blue mention who he was talking to.

"Dragon Master? More like Dragon Disaster; I haven't even come close to killing a Dragon yet."

"He still wants to kill dragons" Blue told DeGroot "It's too early; he's too young."

"You don't look too much older than me" Hiccup pouted.

"Listen very carefully; I shall say this only once" Blue declared "If I understand it right, you and I are standing in the same cave but many centuries apart. You see... I am one of your descendants, many generations into your future. Some dragons have appeared on Earth again and I have managed to make friends with some Terrors and a few Buffalord. I would like to see if any more breeds of dragon have returned from the hidden world, so we were hoping you would be able to tell us where Dragon Island is. Tell Gothi she needs to bring you back here to the cave when the Dragon War is over."

"Do you think it'll work?" Calla asked.

"I hope so, he is doing what I asked and repeating what I said to Gothi" Blue crossed his fingers.

"Oh boy, I wish I could see what you're seeing" Calla admitted.

"I do too my dear" DeGroot whimpered.

"Gothi seems a little confused by what I told her but she agrees. I did want to ask though, who are you talking to on your end?" Hiccup asked.

"Oh I'm here with man named DeGroot, and a girl named Calla. DeGroot is to me, kind of what Gothi is to you... and you could say Calla is my Astrid."

"Oh... she hates you, does she?" Hiccup smirked.

"Err... no, she's my girlfriend."

"Ha! You think Astrid is my girlfriend?" Hiccup laughed but was clearly embarrassed.

"Well she will be" Blue revealed "She is one of my ancestors as well."

"Wha... huh?" Hiccup gasped "You mean... one day... I'm going to marry... Astrid?"

"Yup; don't you wish you'd be able to remember this later?"

A look of shocked realisation fell over the young Vikings face as he turned away from Blue.

"Gothi... this guy says I'm gonna marry Astrid; isn't that great? When does this..."

The light in the room grew slightly darker as the swirling purple haze faded back into the simple glowing blue light. Blue suddenly started to spin as he stumbled and fell to one knee. Worried he may collapse altogether, Calla hurried to his side, crouched down and held him steady.

"Are you alright" she asked.

"Ugh... I feel like I'm trapped inside a giant yoyo... I better sit down before I throw up."

"Okay Babe... rest for a bit" Calla said as she helped Blue sit.

While the dizzy young man put his head down and took a few deep breaths, DeGroot was almost ready to burst out of his skin with excitement.

"Oh this is wonderful; we have to try again" he declared while dancing as if he needed the bathroom.

"Yeah the swirly light was not what I expected... pity it didn't work though" Blue sighed.

"Ah but it did sweetie, it did!" Calla smiled.

"Wha... what?" Blue looked more than confused.

"It worked alright, you just don't remember it" Calla nodded "You also don't remember that you're not supposed to remember it."

Blue eyes grew wider as realisation set in.

"So... um... so we know where to look for Dragon Island?" Blue gasped.

"Err no; that bit didn't work" Calla shrugged "You did talk to Hiccup the Dragon Master but back when he was only Hiccup the twelve year old confused kid. The good news is you were thinking on your feet and told him to come back after the Dragon War was over."

"I did?" Blue wondered.

"You did... I'm proud of you" Calla said and kissed his forehead.

"Yes so we have to try again" DeGroot insisted "Can you stand up yet?"

"Whoa hold one there Captain Eager, you can see for yourself this whole thing took a lot out of Blue, so you really should let him rest and get checked out by a medic before trying again."

"Actually I think I could..." Blue started to say.

"Shut up; your still delirious" Calla insisted.

"But I really do feel better..."

"No you don't; you're ready to pass out."

"Oh... am I?" Blue asked.

"Besides, how do you know using the portal after only a few minutes will work anyway? Do you have so much of that red dust that you can afford to just waist it all now?" Calla said to DeGroot.

"Oh um... no... this is actually all I have" he admitted.

"Then I suggest you wait a while before trying again, and give Hiccup a chance to grow up" Calla insisted.

"B-but he was only twelve... we can't wait four years" DeGroot panicked.

"Look... just give it a day or two; let Blue rest and we'll see if there are any side effects."

Max DeGroot's face fell as he looked down at his feet. The excitement of succeeding had been so intoxicating but he had to admit it, Calla was right. And so, as soon as Blue felt steady enough to walk on his own, the trio left the cavern and started their journey back to the ancient village of Berk. Being mostly downhill, they made good time and could soon see the ocean with their two ships sitting lazily in the bay. Another fifteen minutes and the camp came into view even though they were still a long way off. Suddenly in the distance, an unseen voice called out.

"Here they are Captain; they're coming down the western slope."

Within seconds, people started converging on the group from all directions. Somewhere in the middle was Captain Reed Branson, looking red faced and a little frustrated.

"Oh thank goodness we've found you" he gasped as he strode up the hill.

"Is something wrong Captain?" Blue asked with concern.

"Yes..." Reed puffed "We've just received a distress call over the shortwave radio. The Striker is preparing to weigh anchor and you have to be on it."

"What? Why do they need me?" Blue gasped.

"Dragons... there's a fishing boat out there, somewhere between here and the Shetland Islands. They were attacked two days ago in a thick fog and their boat was badly damaged. I spoke to the First Mate, a Spanish guy named Mateo, and he said he saw one of the beasts that attacked them. He insists it was a dragon... and it was a big one."

"Th-this is amazing" DeGroot gasped as they quickened their pace "There's no doubt left in my mind; somewhere in this part of the world, a new opening must have formed between here and the dragons Hidden World. In the months and years ahead of us, I feel sure more and more dragons will find their way back to the surface."

"If that's true, then we only have a limited window to learn what we can and hopefully befriend a few dragons before we're possibly over run" Blue declared.

"Oh good God" Reed clutched his chest "And I'm still getting used to these little Terrors. Your sister is already on board with Professor Adisa and a few of my crew. The rest of us will stay here and wait for word from Doctor Spencer."

Blue and Calla found a boat waiting for them down at the beach. Abigail had kindly packed their gear and was now waiting for them on the Striker. DeGroot always kept his most important possessions safely packed away so it did not take him long to grab what he needed. Unfortunately he was about to hear some very disappointing orders from Blue.

"Give me the books Max; you're staying here with Captain Branson."

"W-what? No... I have to go with you" DeGroot protested.

"Not this time" Blue insisted "If the crew of the One and All are going to stay here, I do NOT want them to be left without a dragon expert close by to help them. I may know the writings of the Berk Vikings well, but you know them better so I want to take the books with me. I don't know what I'm going to find out there but it would make life a lot easier if I could reference Fishlegs Ingerman, Gothi and Bork the Bold."

DeGroot wanted to argue, but he could see the sense in what Blue wanted and could also see the determination in his eyes. In a way Max only had himself to blame; he had wanted to see the return of the line of Stoick and now that it was here, he had to bow to the leadership of the boy he saw as the new Chief of Berk.

"As you say" DeGroot relented.

"Thank you" Blue nodded "Now I just have to get my dragon..."

"Your sister took Firefly with her to the Striker, along with Daisy, Rollo and Azrail; now GO!" Branson ordered.

"Thank you Captain" Blue smiled "Good luck."

"I think that's my line" Reed replied.

Blue and Calla found Haley Robinson at the motor of the small boat, with Ginger Nut sitting attentively on her shoulder.

"Well isn't this exciting" she said as Blue pushed the boat off the beach.

"And after what we saw this morning, it's turning out to be a very interesting day" Calla replied.

"What did you see?" Haley asked.

"I saw a purple light and Blue saw a twelve year old Viking from early in the second century."

Haley thought about this for a moment and then decided it was no stranger than anything else that had happened in the last few months. The boat rose up and crested a small wave as it moved out into deeper water. Up ahead Blue noticed the Striker was not waiting for them to come to it, as it turned and moved towards shore.

"Looks like Captain Debar is getting a little impatient" Haley noted.

"I've never actually met the Striker's Captain; what's he like" Calla asked.

"You mean she" Haley noted "Captain Georgette Debar formally of the Maritime Gendarmerie."

"The what?" Blue wondered.

"Basically the French Coast Guard" Haley replied.

The two vessels quickly converged on each other, turning into the wind as they drew near. A trio of ropes were lowered down, each with a shackle on the end.

"Calla, pass the long one to Blue and the other two to me" Haley ordered.

Seeing how Haley attached her shackles to each side of the stern, Blue did the same with his at the point of the bow. With all three firmly fastened the small boat with its three occupants were winched up off the water.

"HURRY UP AND GET THOSE IDIOTS ON BOARD" an angry voice cried out from the fly bridge.

Calla and Blue looked at each other, eyes wide with surprise.

"Who put a bug up her butt?" Calla's casual comment made Blue and Haley smile.

With the small boat back in its cradle, several crewmen helped the three new arrivals down to the rear deck.

"The Captain says you're to go to the bridge right away; please follow me" one of them said and led the way.

"She probably wants to abuse us a bit more before dinner" Calla grunted.

The Striker was a much bigger ship than the One and All, and there were several decks to climb before they reached their destination. When they finally set eyes on the sea tugs captain, the sight of the woman before him gave Blue a bit of a shock for a very odd reason; Captain Georgette Debar disturbingly reminded him of Phyllis 'Gran' Lindstrom. The two women did not look similar at all but unlike Phyllis, Captain Debar really did look like a grandmother; a very angry grandmother.

"Just what the hell do you kids think you were up to?" Debar barked "We're answering a distress call so we don't have time to wait around while you fools finished your tea."

Calla opened her mouth to give Debar a well deserved spray of abuse but before she could, Blue surprisingly spoke up.

"Do you seriously think we were just lazing around? We were exploring the island and we hurried out to you as soon as we got word of what had happened."

Calla thought it was just as well Blue got his word in first, because she had planned to use some much more colourful language. Feeling calm but bold, she decided to back him up but once again, somebody else beat her to it."

"And besides Captain the only reason we were waiting for these young people, is because I requested it" Professor Adisa declared as he entered the bridge.

"It will takes us more than a day to reach those men, and we've no way of knowing if their vessel will remain afloat till we get there; you may have signed their death warrants" Debar said accusingly "So why would you waist time waiting for a couple of useless kids who wouldn't know a boat from a bathtub?"

"Hey! Don't forget I helped sail that yacht sitting on your stern all the way from New Zealand to the eastern Indian Ocean" Calla protested.

"Oh... so you're Emerson's sister, are you? Well it doesn't matter, we don't need you."

"Yes you do" the Professor corrected the Captain "These two are far more experienced than you and I when it comes to dealing with dragons."

"Those winged rats?" Debar sneered "I think we can handle them."

"I was told this fishing boat we're looking for, was attacked by two much larger dragons" Blue noted.

"How big could they be?" Debar kept up her sneering.

"Depends on the breed of course" Blue admitted "The size of a dog, the size of a horse, an elephant, a whale; there are some even bigger than that."

"Oh really; and have you ever seen anything bigger than those scrawny things down in the hold?"

"Yes; the Buffalord on the other side of the island was about thirty meters long, with a fifty meter wingspan" Blue informed the Captain.

"You're getting up to whale sized there" Haley nodded "a small whale though, I do admit."

"Humph; what a load of..."

Before Debar could finish her thought, a man called out from the adjacent radio room.

"Captain! We've made contact with the fishing boat again."

"Well then mister dragon expert; let's see what you can decipher from these crazy fishermen, who may have simply been drinking far too much sea water."

'

* * *

'

**More news, good and bad. **

**On the down side, I am not felling very good today. Got tested for covid-19 yesterday and should get the results tomorrow afternoon. **

**The good news though is I have just finished chapter 64 and the main story is complete. I've got a couple of wrap up chapters planned but they're easy to do so I'll be spending most of my time doing re-writes of the remaining chapters, and planning out the story line of the last book.**

**Boo Cat and I are both well stocked for food and stuff, so all I have to do is rest, write and get well.**

**Hope you all enjoy the story, **_**Marty. :)**_


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

The tiny radio room adjacent to the bridge usually had only a single operator even though there were two chairs. The room soon became very crowded though when Calla and Captain Debar squeezed in behind Blue and the radio operator, while all the others gathered around the door. As soon as he had taken the only spare seat, a standing microphone slid across the table to Blue, so he pressed the call button and spoke.

"Erm... this is Blue Dias... to whom am I speaking?"

"Hello... my name is Mateo; are you the dragon guy they said was coming?"

"Um yes that's me. Can you describe what you saw?"

"Sure; I saw a dragon. Actually I only saw the head and neck up close."

"Go on I'm listening" Blue said as everyone leaned forward.

"Okay... well... the snout was a flat like an alligator, but the back of the head was much smaller with two bulbous eyes sitting up on top, a little like a frog. Its smoking nostrils were high on the snout and were quite long; also there was a dark reddish black curved horn between them. Behind the eyes there were four long twisted horns; two pointing up and back, and two pointing out and back. It was a greyish white underneath but mostly it was deep red, with deeper red markings that were almost black. It had more teeth than I care to remember and when its mouth was shut, a row of white dagger like fangs protruded from the lower jaw. There was also a line of long triangular spines running down its neck."

Captain Debar smiled to herself at the description, feeling sure the young man in front of her would be totally out of his depth.

"Okay Mateo it sounds to me like you have what was once a very common dragon in these waters. It's called a Monstrous Nightmare and they are quite dangerous, but the good news is they only tend to attack when they feel threatened. I understand these dragons took your catch, and it was very wise of you to let them have it. I don't know if it will return in the future; but if you don't have any more fish on board, it should just leave you alone."

"We don't have a many, but we did use poles to catch a few for ourselves. You see, we don't have much food left on board."

"That should be fine Mateo, but try to cook and eat what you catch straight away. And if the dragon should by chance return, just leave everything for him on the stern of your fishing boat and back away; that should be enough to keep him happy."

"Thank you Blue... we didn't know what to do before, but now I feel more confident" the gratitude in Mateo's voice was clear to everyone in the room.

The radio operator took back the microphone and told Mateo they would try and contact them again in exactly two hours.

"They have no way to charge their battery but we have to make regular contact to get a directional bearing on their signal" he explained to Blue.

"Now do you see why we needed these young people?" Professor Adisa asked the captain.

Debar merely scowled as they all returned to the bridge, but she soon had much more to say.

"I don't think I have ever heard such a complete load of bilge crap in my entire life" she sneered "Monstrous Nightmare? Is that what you planned to call it or did you just make up that name at the last minute? Everything you said to that poor gullible man was an obvious lie."

Without answering her accusation, Blue simply picked up the satchel full of books he had taken from DeGroot and placed it on the chart table. He fished out the tome he wanted and quickly found the desired page.

"Take a look at that" he snapped at Debar.

Blue pointed to one of the beautifully drawn pictures in the book and everyone leaned in to see.

"Notice the horn, the protruding teeth on the lower jaw, the broad snout, long nostrils and bulbous eyes; even the colour is similar to what Mateo described. I know you can't read the Viking Runes but here are the translation notes I made months ago. The runes in a more modern script are easier to desipher; Hveorungr translates as monster, Nott is night, and Illr-Draumr is bad dream. This word Ormsliki literally translates as dragon so if you put it all together, you have the name given to this dragon by the Vikings of Berk; Monstrous Nightmare. The rest of the runes on this page give detailed information of what the dragon is like and how to handle it safely."

Captain Debar did not like the feeling of being put right on her own bridge, but she had to admit something; it certainly appeared this young man did indeed know what he was talking about.

"So um... what is this book anyway?" she asked humbly.

"It's one of the volumes of the Ingerman Chronicles; compiled by one of the first generation of Dragon Riders, who had the rather comical name of Fishlegs Ingerman. But before you start thinking it is nothing but a joke, many of the Vikings had names we would find funny but were quite normal for them."

"Really; what other names did they have?" Professor Adisa asked with genuine interest.

"Let's see... there was Snotlout, Bucket, Mulch, the Dragon Master himself was named Hiccup, but my personal favourite would have to be a blacksmith who was named Gobber the Belch."

Captain Debar looked again at the open book before her and thought for a moment.

"I'm sorry... I really thought..."

"What did you think; that I was lying or crazy" Blue asked bluntly.

"Yeah, either of those" Debar admitted turning a page "Forgive me but how can you know that all the dragons in this book are real?"

"To be honest, I can't be one hundred percent certain but I do feel very sure."

Blue removed two more books from the satchel and opened them to pages he had bookmarked.

"Take a look at these; Terrible Terror, Smothering Smokebreath and Buffalord" he pointed to each in turn "These are the three dragons types we have found so far and therefore I have no reason to doubt we will find more, given time and opportunity."

"Right... yes I see..." Debar pondered the pages "So is there anything we should do to prepare for any unexpected encounters?"

"Yes there is Captain... make sure we have plenty of food to share."

'

* * *

'

Deep underground on the other side of the world, Neville Sage was actually pleased. Marching down the main corridor from the Main Staging Area to his office, he was finally getting the news he wanted from his second in command.

"So... the Railgun is finally ready" he smiled as he walked.

"Effectively sir" Joshua Cook replied "According to the technicians I talked with, the only thing left to do is to test all integrated systems, but they should be complete long before the Mars transport ship arrives."

"It's called the Mars Transfer Vehicle Mister Cook, or MTV for short. Trust me when I say you can't go misnaming vehicles and equipment in space for if you do, you end up dead from mixing up vital systems."

"Yes sir... sorry sir."

"So had Doctor Spencer said anything about..."

Sage stopped in his tracks so suddenly, Cook almost bumped into him. The leader of the raiders had suddenly been distracted by an unusual sight. As he had passed one of the secondary computer rooms, he saw what appeared to be a child sitting alone at one of the work stations. Sage did not trust children, for they tended to be more willing to take risks than adults were, assuming their young age would protect them from any consequences. The thought that one of the local rug-rats may be tampering with the launch protocol program sent a shiver down his spine.

"Well then... what do we have here?" Sage said menacingly as he pushed the door all the way open.

The sudden intrusion made Saffron jump in fright.

"Th-they said I could use this computer... when they didn't need it" Saffron said defensively.

"And when you say 'they', I assume you mean Railgun Personnel?" Sage asked as he looked over the screens and desk in front of them.

"Y-yes sir."

Sage had expected to see coding and calculations on the screen, but instead he saw some kind of written language and strange markings of parallel lines, swirls and circles. On the desk he noticed pages of hand written notes half covering a very thick and very old book.

"What's all this?" he demanded to know.

"Err... I'm uh... translating sir" Saffron said honestly.

"Translating what exactly?" Sage said with suspicion.

"Um... this book... it belongs to my brother... I've already read what he translated, so I thought..."

"That doesn't tell me what it is though" Sage said menacingly as he picked up the book.

"It's uh... called the Book of Gothi and its over a thousand years old."

As Saffron explained, Sage turned the pages of the book and looked over the rune writing of the ancient Vikings, as well as the quite exquisite illustrations. On some pages he saw drawings on plants and flowers, but on others he saw mythical beasts; monsters that were the stuff of nightmares. One picture in particular caught his eye. It appeared to be a group portrait of six young people standing in front of five particularly fearsome winged reptiles, but everyone appeared to be smiling; including some of the beasts.

"What's this say?" Sage asked, pointing to the runes under the sketch.

"Ah yes..." Saffron quickly looked through the papers of translations on the desk "...let's see... ah here it is. The two in the front are Hiccup and Astrid with their dragons Toothless the Night Fury and Stormfly the Deadly Nadder; the black one is Toothless. On the far left is Snotlout and his Monstrous Nightmare named Hookfang, and Fishlegs with Meatlug the Gronkle. On the other side are the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut with their Hideous Zippleback named Barf and Belch; a name for each head."

Sage studied the picture with interest.

"So it's a book of fairy tales and legends" he noted.

"Err... I suppose so" Saffron said, not wanting to admit she thought it was real.

"Pity these things aren't real; when considering the tactical advantage given by horses, camels and elephants in battle, beast like these would make you almost invincible."

After looking for a few more seconds, Sage surprised Saffron and his own men by sweeping the pages off to the side of the desk.

"Move over kid" he ordered as he pulled up a chair.

Some of the papers Saffron had been working on fluttered to the floor as Sage grabbed the computer mouse and started to check files.

"Err sir... is anything wrong?" Cook asked as Sage poured over the information on the screen.

"Just checking something" Sage replied without saying what it was he sought.

Anyone who used a computer terminal inside the complex had to log on before working, so Sage brought up the record of when Saffron had logged on and what files she had accessed since that time. It only took him a few minutes to see she had only made use of translation software, and had not gone into any vital systems. He was soon satisfied all was well but noticed something else; the name of the person he had been questioning.

"So... Saffron Dias; I suppose I should have recognised you as a younger version of Cadet Abigail Dias."

"I um... didn't do any space ship operations training back on Mars sir, so I guess you haven't seen much of me."

"Hmm..." Sage thought "With you down here, that means the only member of your family still in space would be your father."

"Yes sir, he is" Saffron knew it would be useless to try and lie; what's more she had no reason to.

"I find that disturbing" Sage scowled "The only reason I can think of for Luis to send his family back to Earth, would be to ensure they were not in harm's way when he attempted to stop me from taking back the MTV."

"Do you really think..." Cook began.

"Of course I do; that's how I stay alive" Sage stood up "Get Spencer and Dias into my office... NOW!"

Given the volume of his order, Joshua Cook realised it would be best for everyone if the two people Sage wanted to interrogate were waiting as soon as he arrived. And so the two women were literally dragged away from what they were doing and rushed to Sages office.

"Are we in trouble?" April asked when she was thrown into the room.

"Aren't we always" Sarah replied "Is Rose okay?"

"Thank heavens yes" April replied "I was able to leave her with the botanists I was working with when the goon squad grabbed me."

"Probably a good thing she won't be here when Sage arrives."

"A good thing that who won't be here?" Sage barked as he strode in.

"Err... Rose... the baby" April replied quickly.

"Funny you should say that Ms. Dias; I was thinking about the fact that almost your entire family are now here on Earth, with the notable exception of your husband. I am now beginning to think he wanted you all out of the way so you would not get caught in the crossfire when Luis and his crew try to defend the MTV. So tell me; what have you two got planned?"

"Wha... NOTHING, I SWEAR!" Sarah gasped in reply.

"Then why..." Sage started but April jumped in immediately

"I had only three choices of where I would give birth to Rose" she snapped "We didn't have the best facilities on the MTV and I didn't want to go back to Mars; so Earth was the best option... here in particular."

"And your daughter; why did she come with you?"

"Saffron never wanted to leave Mars in the first place, and she certainly did not want to stay in space virtually alone. Her father is very busy and so with her brother and sister also here on Earth, and all her friends back on Mars..."

"It all sounds very convenient" Sage interrupted "Don't think for one minute that I am completely convinced by your excuses, so consider this; I've got my eye on you and so if you do have plans, you'd be wise to cut your losses and drop them before I find out and HAVE YOU BOTH SHOT!"

There was silence for a moment as Sages threat sunk in.

"Do I make myself perfectly clear ladies?"

"Crystal clear sir... butagain I swear..." Sarah tried again.

"Just get out" Sage barked.

Cook held the door as April and Sarah cautiously exited the room. Their hearts beat excessively fast as they picked up speed to put as much distance between themselves and Sage as they could.

"Do you think he knows?" Sarah whispered.

"Of course not" April replied "But when you're as paranoid as Neville Sage is, it only stands to reason that eventually, amongst all the various imagined threats and plots he suspects us of, he would stumble upon the real one. But fortunately, even he can no longer tell the difference between real danger and his own fear."

"But still..."

"Listen Sarah, you and me are the only people on Earth who know what's going to happen, and we planned it that way so Sage couldn't find out for sure; all he can do is guess and he had done quite a lot guessing lately."

"I know it was the right thing to do, but I've hated lying to my own people all this time."

"It'll be worth it when Sage is gone... and I'm sure they'll forgive you."

'

* * *

'

**Test results have not come in yet but I'm still feeling fine with no fever.**

**End of the story is progressing well and I've already got a few plot lines in mind for Fire Sky Ruling.**

**Don't let your crossed fingers cramp up Vin, and thanks to carlsniper1990 for favoriting the story :D**


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Calla Donia Linwood leaned forward to inspect the repairs made to the keel of her yacht. At first she was worried by all the cutting and repairing that had been done to the Star Runner, but the work looked sound and there was no doubt she was still seaworthy.

"Sorry about cutting up your boat" Blue said as he approached.

"Oh well... it was just a bit of the stabiliser, and I suppose you did need it to make that flight board."

"Yeah... but I still didn't rescue you in time."

Calla touched the side of her face and felt the rough surface of her burn scar. She was slowly getting used to it and most people had stopped staring, but it was still a constant reminder of her time in Gran's mountain camp.

"I suppose I should have known better than to get angry with such an unstable personality" Calla smiled and shrugged.

"Whatever you do, don't take the blame for this" Blue said as he took a light hold of her shoulders.

"I won't, as long as you don't blame yourself either" Calla replied and rested her head on his chest.

The slight rocking motion of the Striker made the pair feel like they were dancing with no music, and they may have stayed that way for quite a while if somebody else had not come along and disturbed them.

"Oh... I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" Professor Adisa asked.

"Yes; go away" Calla said bluntly.

"Very well" Linton nodded as he turned around.

"I'm kidding Professor" Calla laughed as she reached out and grabbed the old man's arm.

"Ah... at my age it can be hard to tell" he smiled.

At that very moment, the ship moved ever so slightly to starboard as the crew made a simple course correction. Most people on board did not even notice but the brief yaw movement was enough to make the Professor stumble.

"Whoa... careful sir" Blue declared as he took the man's other arm in assistance.

"Good heavens, I've been like this all day; perhaps I'd better sit down while I tell you something important."

"Certainly; what can we do for you sir" Blue asked as they all sat down on a convenient hatch cover.

"Well my boy, I hear rumours that you and Calla are planning to leave us."

"Yes sir, and Abigail too; the fishing boat we're going to rescue is from the Shetland Islands so I'm taking a guess that the dragons who attacked them could be from the Faroe Islands. So after we have reached the boat and made sure all the crew are safe, Calla and I are going to take the Star Runner on a little trip to the north and find out if I'm right. If there are any people living there, they could be in danger with large dragons lurking about. Captain Debar says she'll follow us there once the Striker has taken the men home to their families on Shetland. I'm hoping by the time she gets there, we'll know for sure."

"I see... well... I can't argue with your logic" the Professor nodded "Then while we still have some time together, I wanted to give you this."

From his left jacket pocket, Professor Adisa removed a small USB memory stick and handed it to Blue.

"When I was a guest of Prime Governor Redding, he made the mistake of briefly leaving me alone with his personal computer. Not having much time to spare, I simply copied a section of files onto this and placed it in my shoe. Now I think it would be best if you took it and gave it to Doctor Spencer when you eventually return to the Railgun Complex; there could be important things to be learnt here."

"But shouldn't you keep it? We're not really sure when we're going back" Blue argued.

"Who knows if or when any of us are going back? I just figured you were more likely to get there eventually, while I am enjoying all these new discoveries far too much to even consider returning to Sumatra."

"Well... okay if you say so sir" he agreed.

"Thank you Blue" the Professor smiled as he patted the young man's shoulder "Now I think I'll return to my cabin for a rest; take good care of him Miss Calla."

"I will Professor" she nodded.

'

* * *

'

Conversations currently going on back in Canada were nowhere near as cordial. One in particular was more like an interrogation.

"WHERE IS HE?" Gran demanded to know.

"How should I know?" Doom shrugged in reply.

"He's your husband, you should know" Gran countered with.

"True, but his leash is in the wash."

"Don't get smart with me girl; you two have been nothing but trouble since the day you arrived."

"Trouble!? We've been model citizens" Doom insisted.

"Then why won't you take the room we prepared for you in the tunnel system?"

"We like living in the Bull Ant" Doom shrugged "And we do join you inside whenever there is a Meteor Safety Drill."

"How can I be sure you won't just decide to unexpectedly drive away one day?" Gran said accusingly.

"Oh come on" Doom snickered "a three legged turtle with asthma could easily catch this thing."

"That doesn't excuse the fact that your husband keeps disappearing for hours on end when he should be working."

"Hey... we both do our fair share of work here and besides, if you had to live with me, wouldn't feel the need to get away once in a while?"

This last comment was directed at the two Gate Guards standing behind Gran and trying to be intimidating.

"Uh... no, I think you're quite nice and very prett..." one started to say until Stan dug his elbow in the man's ribs.

Ever since Oliver and Stan had fallen out over the way Calla and Abigail were treated after their attempted escape, Stan had found it very difficult to find a new work partner who did not make him want to stick his head into a bucket of water and scream away his frustrations.

"Hello!" Emerson's familiar voice called out from the ground.

"LEVEL ONE HONEY" Doom replied "AND WE HAVE GUESTS."

"Am I in trouble again?" Emerson asked as he climbed through the rear side door.

"Aren't you always?" Doom replied.

"How many times do I have to tell you NOT to go sneaking off by yourself?" Gran barked.

"And how many times do I have to tell you that I am not going to run away? This is our home now" Emerson insisted.

"I – I wasn't worried you were escaping" Gran lied "but while you were out on your little nature walk, everyone one else was working their tails off."

"Hey be fair; I never go on the days I am rostered on for heavy work, only during my allocated rest periods. And I wasn't being lazy either because I brought back a barrow full of cut wood as well as five trout, two mountain pheasant and a rabbit. I'm sure your kitchen staff will be glad to have them."

"Yes... but I still don't want you to just wander off whenever the mood takes you."

"Why not; I used to do it all the time back in New Zealand."

"THEY DON'T HAVE BEARS IN NEW ZEALAND!" Gran fumed.

"Alright alright" Emerson relented "I won't go off without letting anyone know, and I won't go alone. Will that make you happy?"

Doom could still see the anger in Gran's eyes, but she had to admit her wishes had been granted.

"That's all I ask" the older woman admitted.

"Good; you'll find the game I caught outside on the barrow. We'll see you later at dinner."

"Yes... um... thanks... for the extra ingredients" Gran nodded as she started for the door.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you" Stan warned as he followed.

"Sorry but I'm spoken for" Emerson said, making Doom giggle and Stanley fume.

Finally alone again, the young couple desperately tried to keep themselves from laughing until they were sure the others were out of earshot.

"So... how did it go?" Doom asked.

"I've got everything I'll need for the climb stashed part way up the mountain, so I'm finally ready to go."

"But when?"

Emerson sat down on their only couch, which was really nothing more than a day seat left from when the Bull Ant was still a railway passenger car. As he took a deep breath, Doom sat beside him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I think I'd better leave it for a while and just do as I promised for a few weeks. After I've been out with one of the forest teams a few times, I'll sneak off and make the climb. I'm just glad this is more of a hiking mountain, and not a climbing type of mountain."

"I still want you to be careful though" Doom shook her fist in a mock threat "I don't want to be an early widow, especially before junior comes into the world."

"Oh I'll be fine. And once I've got the information for Doctor Spencer and the Professor, we really can settle down here until the time to go comes."

"But that could be years away" Doom sighed.

"Yeah it may be cold and remote here, but the forest really is a beautiful place to raise a young family. You never know, if the time does come to leave, you may not want to go."

"Don't count on it" Doom replied "I still wanna see what your sister saw; I wanna go to space."

'

* * *

'

Early the next morning, Blue woke up with a start. He soon realised he had made some kind of audible gasp when he heard one of the two crew men he shared the cabin with, give an annoyed groan. They both had hit their bunks only a few hours ago after working the graveyard shift, so Blue made a point of being very quiet as he rose and got dressed for the day.

Based on the navigators calculations made the previous evening, the Captain of the Striker believed they would find the stricken fishing boat before mid morning and Blue wanted to be on hand during the rescue. As he got ready, the young man could not shake the feeling of dread that had woken him so suddenly. He could not remember having any kind of dream or nightmare, but the pit of his stomach told him he had experienced something very stressful. It was as if he knew something was wrong, but he did not know what it was. On his way up to the bridge, Blue stopped briefly on the gantry behind the port fly bridge to scan the horizon before entering the ships command centre.

"Good morning Captain. Any update on the fishing boat?"

Captain Georgette Debar looked a little surprised as she turned towards Blue.

"Ah, you're here; thank you for being so prompt."

"Um... huh?" Blue wondered what Debar was talking about.

At that very moment, the starboard door open and a crew member rushed in.

"He wasn't in his cabin Ma-am, so we're searching the... oh... he's here."

"Yes thank you" Debar nodded "Any word on the girls?"

"They should be here soon Captain" the man informed her.

"Good... would you come with me please Blue?"

Captain Debar led Blue into the ward room behind the bridge and asked him to have a seat while he waited. She then left but returned soon after followed by Haley, Abigail and a yawning Calla. Behind the group was a man Blue had never seen before, but that was not surprising as he had not yet met most of the Striker's crew.

"Good morning Babe" Calla gave a weary smile as she sat next to Blue.

With the whole group assembled, Georgette Debar looked at them seriously.

"What I have to tell you... will not be easy to hear... I'm very sorry but... Professor Adisa passed away in his sleep last night."

There was nothing but silence in the moments that followed as Blue and Calla squeezed each other's hands. Abigail looked at Haley, both being aware that although they knew and respected the Professor, they were not as close to him as the other two. Linton was one of the people who had raised Blue and was more like a grandfather to him than his real grandfather. The Professor had also taken on the role of protector when Calla had fallen into the Railgun Complex, separating her from the rest of her family.

"Wha... how did it happen?" Blue asked.

"This is the ships Medical Officer" Debar introduced the unknown man as he stepped forward.

"It was mostly because of his advanced years. There was probably a more specific cause but we have no way of finding out" he said.

"I wonder... if he knew?" Blue sighed as his head dropped.

"What do you mean?" Abigail asked.

"Umm... yesterday... he gave me something to take back to Doctor Spencer, so maybe he knew the end was close."

"You're half right" the medic nodded "the Professor certainly knew he did not have long, but he's known that ever since he left Sumatra."

"But that was almost a year ago!" Calla stated.

"Yes; he came to see me soon after he came on board near the Nicobar Islands. He said he'd constantly been feeling tired and commented that he was surprised he'd lasted this long. I asked him if he was in any pain and he said no, I'm just wearing out. So I don't think he knew his passing was imminent, just overdue."

"Overdue is good" Calla sniffed "he got to see the dragons before he... um... you know."

"And he got to see you again, safe and sound" Blue tried to smile as Calla held back her tears "I'm sure he was relieved to know you and Abby weren't trapped anymore."

"Um... I was wondering... what are you planning to do with him?" Haley asked.

"As he wasn't really a sailor, we thought it would be better not to bury him at sea, but to wait until we reach the Shetland Islands" Captain Debar informed them.

"Can't we take him back to Berk?" Blue wondered.

"We could, but I don't think that's a good idea."

"No... I suppose not" Blue reluctantly agreed "I suppose we should cancel our plans to search the Faroe Islands until after the ceremony."

Feeling rather melancholy, all four left the ward room but skipped breakfast for the time being; none of them really felt like eating.

'

* * *

'

**Didn't think it would happen so quick, but I've finished the last chapter (66) and have moved on to the final book in this series already.**

**One of my reader friends Draco38 just started his latest RWBY called Pyrrha's Choice so if you're into RWBY, tou may want to check it out.**

**My covid-19 test came back negative (yay!) but with all the trouble going on, there is very little work in the charter bus business so I'm sticking to writing and gardening for now.**

**I keep hearing on the news about what's happening in Europe and especially Italy. I know you told me not to worry Vin, but I can't help it. Here's hoping and praying we all come out safely on the other side of this as soon as possible.**

**In the meantime, I will try to keep you all entertained with free stories (yay, free!) to help keep your spirits up ;D**

**Love and health to all, **_**Marty.**_


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Feelings were mixed on the Striker for the rest of the morning. Not everyone knew Professor Adisa personally but they all knew of him, who he was and what he represented; so the sense of loss was quite heavy all around. After leaving the bridge, Blue wandered off to be alone with his thoughts and soon found himself on the large rear deck of the sea tug, watching the dragons as they played and fed. It did not bother Blue that the creatures did not seem to know or care about the death of Linton Adisa because after all, in the end they were just animals.

What he did not know was how wrong he was. Nobody had told Blue hat it was the dragons who had alerted the crew to there being something wrong in the first place. Early in the day before the sun had given its first light, two crew members coming on duty had found Firefly and Azrail sitting outside of the Professors private cabin, scratching lightly at the door. It was these crew members who had discovered the unexpected death when they had investigated the dragon's odd behaviour, and reported it to Captain Debar.

One of those same dragons now sat on the port rail of the Striker; he had just devoured a small fish and was about to fly out to catch another when Blue arrived and sat down on a large coiled rope. Firefly soon abandoned his feeding plans and scampered across the deck to comfort his tall, two legged friend. Climbing on to the rope coil, the dragon placed it two front claws and Blues leg and rested its head in his lap, looking up with sympathetic puppy dragon eyes.

Blue half smiled at his dragon's show of concern, but he put it down not to Firefly's knowledge of the situation, but to his uncanny awareness of Blue's current depression. As they sat, several other dragons wandered over and sat nearby, showing a surprising level of solidarity and empathy that made Blue both surprised, and mildly comforted.

"We need to talk" Calla suddenly appeared at Blues right.

"Yeah I know, but maybe later" Blue smiled "Right now I just want to..."

"Not about the Professor, but about how selfish you are being."

Calla's words were more powerful than a punch in the gut, and left the young man temporarily speechless.

"Uh... wha?" was all he could come up with.

"What do you think you're doing, cancelling our investigation of the Faroe Islands?"

"Oh come on Calla, be fair; the Professor's just..."

"I know he's dead" Calla held back more tears "but I thought he had taught you better."

"Better? What are you talking about" Blue started to get angry.

"I'm talking about caring what happens to other people! I didn't know the Professor as long as you did, but one thing I learnt from him was to consider what other people were going through when deciding what he should or shouldn't do."

"Oh... and you're upset because I didn't consider what you wanted to do when I decided to give the Professor a proper memorial?" Blue snarled.

"Humph" Calla snorted as she took a step back "Sometime I just wanna slap your stupid face. I'm not talking about me you idiot, I'm talking about the people we're about to rescue."

"We're still are going to..."

"DON'T INTERRUPT" Calla yelled "We already know two huge dragons have attacked at least one fishing boat, but are there any others? Has anybody been killed yet? And what about the Faroe Islands? If you're right about that being the home of the dragons, what if there are people on those islands too? Are they in danger? What would happen if they tried to take on a Monstrous Nightmare in a fight? The Professor gave up his freedom to spend his life helping support the Mars Colony, possibly saving humanity from total extinction. So do you really think you should go against who he was, and abandon the people out there who need you? They know nothing about dragons... but you do... so help them... I believe it's what Professor Adisa would want you to do... so tell me I'm wrong... I dare you."

It was no surprise to Calla that Blue did not answer her straight away. As she waited, she could see the look of deep thought on his face. It had not been easy for her to talk to him in such a blunt accusing way, but the fact that he did not jump to his own defence without first giving her words serious consideration, made Calla very sure her strong feelings for him were well and truly justified.

"You're right... of course" Blue admitted "I'll go tell Captain Debar."

'

* * *

'

The Strikers main crane set what was left of the fishing boat down on the port side of the rear deck. Its crew all sat down in the galley, relieved to be enjoying the hospitality afforded by the huge towing vessel. Up on deck, Blue and Calla poured over the deep claw marks left by a powerful attacker.

"Look at the space between each claw," Calla noted "whatever made them must have been huge."

"And stealing away a net full of fish may have needed a lot of strength, but just consider what it would have taken to tear out the fish hold built into the foredeck."

As they looked over the vessel, Calla suddenly noticed something very interesting.

"Hey Blue, look at Knucklehead."

Following her gaze, Blue saw the Terrible Terror soaring slowly in a circle above the ship. A few other dragons soon joined him while the rest sat on the highest communications mast, scanning the horizon in different directions.

"Are they... on lookout?" Calla asked.

"It certainly appears they are" Blue replied "I dare say they recognised the signs of larger dragons and are making sure they are not caught out unexpectedly. I've noticed they will sometimes make a small pile of caught fish near the stern when there's a school nearby, but now they are eating what they catch right away. My guess is they don't want to attract any predators to what is essentially their current home."

The pair watched the circling dragons for a few minute to see if there was any change in behaviour that may indicate the presence of danger, but it soon became clear they were all just being vigilant for now. As they watched, a man with a Spanish accent approached and spoke.

"Hello? I was told you wanted to speak to me" he said.

"Yes good... my name is Blue Dias and this is Calla Linwood; are you the man who saw the dragon close up?"

"Si yes... Dias... you are of Spanish decent?"

"My father Luis was Columbian" Blue replied.

"Ah I see; and to answer your question, I was fortunate, or unfortunate enough, to see the beast very close indeed."

Blue and Calla noticed the man looking slightly nervously at the circling dragons, especially when one swooped low.

"I know it may be hard to believe after what you've been through, but these dragons really are quite friendly" Blue tried to reassure him.

"And they are small... that is good" Mateo noted.

"If you would like to come with us, I have something I'd like to show you."

Calla led the way inside and while she took Mateo to the dining area, Blue hurried up to the cabin he shared with two other crewmen. Picking up his bag of books, he rushed back down to where the others awaited him. Mateo watched with interest as the young man removed one of the volumes and started to turn its pages, giving him a quick glimpse of the many dragon drawings within.

"Here, take a look at this one" Blue said as he turned the book towards their guest.

The look of recognition on Mateo's face was obvious and his reaction instant.

"THAT'S IT, THAT'S WHAT I SAW... Good God... where did you get this book?"

"It's over a thousand years old and was written by a Viking named Bork" Blue informed him "The dragon in question is called a Monstrous Nightmare; it was pretty easy to identify after you had given me such a good description."

"And they tell me you are going in search of this creature... are you mad?"

"Yes" Calla smiled.

"No!" Blue retaliated "Thanks to the information in these books, we were able to make friends with the smaller dragons, and although we will have to use different methods, we hope to make the oceans safer for you and any others who may go fishing in the future."

"I agree with the girl, you are mad."

'

* * *

'

In less than half an hour, Blue and Calla had packed up the last of their gear and placed it on the yacht Star Runner. Blue had been expecting his sister to soon join them, but when she did they were in for yet another surprise.

"Hey Abby, where's your gear?" Blue asked.

"In my cabin." she replied "Sorry to hit you with this at the last minute, but I've given up my space to someone with more sailing experience... and a very strong interest in dragons too."

Abigail looked back at the door leading into the mid-deck superstructure to where Haley Robinson stood, satchel on her back, Ginger Nut on her shoulder, and a look of hope on her face.

"Do you mind?" Haley asked.

"What do you think?" Blue asked Calla "I don't have a problem with this."

"Me neither; welcome aboard" Calla agreed.

"Won't you miss me?" Blue checked with his sister.

"I've got Rollo and a heap of other dragons; what do I need you for? I will miss Calla though" Abigail smiled and winked.

"With me gone you'll have more room in your cabin though" Calla noted.

"You're right" Abigail realised "so go already."

They may have been happily joking with each other, but both girls could not help tearing up as they hugged goodbye.

"Take good care of Blue, he needs it" Abigail whispered.

"And you take good care of yourself too" Calla replied.

Haley climbed the rope ladder up to the Star Runners deck while Blue and Abigail also shared a farewell hug. Then with all three up onboard, the Strikers starboard crane lifted the vessel off its cradle and slowly swung it out over the water.

"FIREFLY, DAISY, AZRAIL; COME ON, IT'S TIME TO GO!" Blue called out to the dragons.

Captain Debar and most of the bridge crew waved from the starboard flybridge, while all their other friends saw the trio off from the stern. With the Star Runners hull now back in the water, Blue and Haley rushed to undo the cable shackles while Calla held the yacht steady. Soon the lifting cables were guided up and the Star Runner was once more sailing free. Turing the helm slightly, Calla put some distance between the vessels before turning hard to port and passing behind the sea tug on their way north. With everything in order, Blue left Haley standing on the bow and went back to the helm.

"I bet this brings back memories" he said as he placed his hand on Calla's shoulder.

"Not yet fifteen and I've taken command" Calla smiled "I wonder what Dad would say?"

"And both members of the crew are older than you too."

"Not by much" Calla protested.

"Okay I'm only a few years older, but Haley is almost twenty..."

"Like I said, not by much" Calla insisted.

"Yeah... not by much" Blue nodded.

'

* * *

'

**Had my first day back at work today, it was good to really get out of the house for the first time in over a week. Of course if I dare sneeze while I'm driving the bus, they'll probably lock me up again (wink).**

**Sorry to hear about being forced to wear a mask Vin, we can here but we don't have to. If I had to wear one, I'd be tempted to draw a big smile on it, or even better... Vampire Fangs ;D**


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

There were eighteen main islands to choose from in the Faroe Archipelago, and Blue chose to land on the island of Streymoy. Ten kilometres up from the southern tip of the island, was a wide, deep inlet. Halfway up this inlet about two kilometres, there was a long abandoned commercial wharf in an area known as Sund, which was perfect for the group's purposes. They tied the Star Runner to a section of the old dock that appeared to be in reasonable condition and began to take all their equipment ashore.

There were several warehouse buildings in the area, but their condition was not the best. It was plain to see that the islands had suffered from at least one massive wave cause by a meteorite strike at sea, and probably more than one. Fortunately the inner island rose up steadily from the coast so the trio quickly made plans to head up into the hills and search for a good place to set up camp; but before they left, a matter of security needed to be enacted.

"I know it's the right thing to do, but it feels weird" Calla said as she untied the stern rope from the dock.

"At least we can be sure no one will steal your boat while we're gone" Blue shrugged.

"Not boat, yacht" Calla insisted as she let the bow rope out meter after meter.

The Star Runner slowly drifted away from shore, held only by the long loose rope in Calla's hand. After it had gone out about five meters, she took a small remote control from her pocket and pressed the red top button. Instantaneously, air started to bubble to the surface and the yacht began to sit lower in the water and barely a minute later, the hull was completely submerged. This came as somewhat of a surprise to Daisy who was still sitting on the top of the mast. She clearly felt the sensation of being lowered and looked down only to see her perch rapidly getting shorter and shorter.

"You'd better get off now girl" Calla advised; and so the dragon leapt into the air just before the top of the mast slipped below the surface of the water.

"I'm tempted to press the other button now just to make sure it comes back up again" Calla sighed.

"Just make sure the end of that rope is well secured so we can pull her in when we do bring her up" Blue noted.

While the dragons spent their time half playing and half exploring, Blue, Calla and Haley took up some of their gear, leaving the rest well hidden in the ruins of an old warehouse. They started off walking briskly but the hill rose up quite sharply from the coast, so they took care to pace themselves as they went.

"So um... what exactly are we looking for?" Haley asked after about forty minutes.

"Somewhere with a good view all round, and preferably with some basic natural protection to help us shelter from the wind; after all, a tent will only do so much" Blue replied.

"Not much here in the way of firewood" Calla noted.

"I assume by Not Much, you really mean None At All" Haley corrected.

Good fortune however was with the group as just over an hour later, they came across a dirt track leading up to a farm, just below the crest of the hill they were climbing. As they approached, a good sized barn came into view behind the dwelling giving all three the same idea.

"Camping in a barn would be much better than using tiny tents" Haley offered.

"Assuming the farmer lets us to use it" Blue noted.

"Assuming there still is a farmer" Calla shrugged.

The closer they got to the house, the more it appeared that there was indeed a farmer. The home looked well maintained, there were signs showing someone had been working in the front yard very recently, and the sound of chickens could be heard coming from around the back.

"You guys stay here with the dragons while I go knock on the door" Blue said plainly.

"Say please" Calla smiled.

"Pleeese!" Blue replied with the tiniest hint of sarcasm.

Approaching the door with some caution, Blue called out in a way that made him sound like he was a character in a Winnie the Pooh cartoon.

"Hu-looo... is there anybody there?" but no answer came so he knocked firmly on the front door.

He waited for a short time and then knocked again. There was still no response so with some trepidation, the young man stepped over to the window and looked in.

"What can you see?" Haley called out.

"Front room, nicely furnished, a book with an empty teacup next to a big chair... I'd say someone does live here."

"So where are they?" Calla wondered as Blue returned to them.

"Working on the farm somewhere?" Blue postulated.

"Well I suppose it wouldn't hurt to look around" Haley said and the others agreed.

"Just do your best to keep the dragons away from the chickens" Blue insisted.

As they explored the immediate area, they found more signs that at least one person lived there and possibly more, but as to where this person was, nothing was forthcoming. While they searched, the dragons scurried about and familiarised themselves with the local area.

"This isn't good" Blue sighed when they all came back together with nothing to report.

"So now what; do we move on?" Haley asked.

"I hope not" Calla replied "I know we shouldn't move in unannounced, but I still say that barn looks much more inviting than a tent would be in this weather."

"I think we need a little winged assistance" Blue said and called out to his dragon

Firefly soon appeared and glided in to a soft landing on Blues shoulder.

"I've got a job for you buddy."

Blue took Firefly over to the rear door of the home where a pair of house slippers had been placed on a chair under a small veranda. The young man assumed the homes occupant had changed into his work boots at the back door, leaving the slippers close by for his eventual return.

"Smell this..." Blue offered the dragon one of the slippers "now search; go find the owner."

This was a game Firefly loved to play. He rose up in the air and flew around the farm about ten meters from the buildings, and identified all the paths made by creatures not fortunate enough to possess the power of flight. Swooping down, he sniffed at each one and found that most of them gave a hint of the desired aroma, so he picked the strongest one and followed it by gliding close to the ground.

"Leave your gear by the back door and let's go" Blue said.

While doing as instructed, Calla decided the one thing she did not want to leave behind was her beloved axe.

"Come on you lot" She called to the rest of the dragons.

Keeping up with Firefly would have been impossible if the little dragon had not stopped occasionally to wait for them. The climb was steep at first making it difficult to run, but as they approached to crest of the hill the ground soon levelled out. Blue believed he would soon catch sight of his dragon once more, but instead he heard someone cry out in fear.

"AARRRH! GET AWAY YOU HORRIBLE..."

"FIREFLY; COME!" Blue called and the dragons soon responded.

"Good boy; well done" Blue petted Firefly as soon as he landed on the boys shoulder.

The trio continued on over the hill and found an injured, middle aged man lying a short distance down the other side. He was crawling along the ground trying to reach a shotgun not far away.

"It's alright, Firefly won't hurt you" Blue tried to calm the man.

"Unless you try and shoot him" Calla added as they walked up.

"Wha... who are you... and why is there a baby dragon on your shoulder?"

"Firefly isn't a baby, Terrible Terrors only grow to this size" Blue smiled.

"Terrible Terrors?" the man gasped.

"Don't worry, it's only a name. These guys are really quite nice" Haley smiled.

Just then the man realised there were actually three other dragons running about and soon started to worry again.

"You look hurt, what happened" Calla asked as she looked over the man.

"I was attacked... by a dragon... much bigger than those. I was trying to get my goat herd back down to the house when the beast swooped in and grabbed one of the small ones. I tried to take it back but when I got a hold on it, the dragon flicked its legs and sent me flying down the hill. I don't think anything is broken but I've twisted my right leg and hurt my hip when I landed."

"Do you need a stretcher?" Calla checked.

"I think I could walk back... with some help if you don't mind."

"Not at all; my mane if Blue and this is Calla and Haley" Blue introduced as he helped the man up.

Haley took the other side and together they started back to the crest of the hill and down the other side.

"My name is Simon Lisberg, and I must admit I did not expect to see any strangers out here today, especially with tiny dragons of their own.

"What can you tell me about the dragon you encountered?" Blue asked as they went.

"Fortunately for me, it was the nice one" Simon began.

"So there is more than one?"

"Yes, I've seen two; one looks like a big red monster and the other one is more like a cross between a lizard and a bird."

"Big red monster sounds like our Monstrous Nightmare" Calla noted "What do you think the other one could be."

"There are several with a certain bird-like look to them. Did it have a long snout?" Blue asked.

"No... it was more round with a big chin and spikes on its tail" Simon tried to remember "Oh wait, it shot a few of the spikes at me when I started to chase it. I think they're over there."

Calla jogged over to the spot Simon indicated and after foraging around in the grass for a moment, she came back with two long blue spikes with a dark band around the centre bulge.

"Deadly Nadder; no doubt about it" Blue nodded "You're lucky it was only trying to scare you off."

"I thought it was trying to kill me" Simon declared.

"If it wanted to kill you, you'd be dead" Blue insisted "A Nadder has such good aim, it could take the button off your shirt without tearing the fabric. How long have they been here?"

"Well I first saw them about a week ago, but today was my first real encounter with one."

"Can you give me any idea as to which way it went?" Blue asked.

"Pretty much north" Simon replied.

"Any mountains in that direction?"

"Ya, the tallest mountain in the Faroe Archipelago is on the next island; it's not very far from here."

"You said it was the nice one; what made you say that if you'd never seen one before?" Haley wondered.

"A few other people on the island have seen dragons too. They told me the bird like one is easy to shoo away most of the time, but the red monster can be very intimidating. After the beasts arrived, most of the islands population decided to leave but the boats were all filled very quickly, so the rest of us are waiting for them to come back for us. I thought my home was as good a place as any to wait, but I'm beginning to wish I'd stayed in town now."

Eventually they managed to get Simon back to his home. He didn't want to be put to bed yet, but Haley insisted he rest on the couch while she made some tea.

"Sorry to be a bother, but could one of you fetch some firewood for me? There's a pile near the back of the barn."

"I'll go" Blue offered "and speaking of the barn, we were wondering if you would allow us to camp in there while we search for the dragons."

"Camp in the barn? Never; after all the help you've given me, I insist you stay here. Who knows; I may have been stuck outside all night and maybe even died of exposure out there."

"Well um... thank you... much appreciated... I'll go and get the fire wood."

Blue motioned for Calla to follow him to the back of the house. He stopped at the door, took her hands in his and looked into her eyes. She wasn't sure why, but Blue looked somewhat worried.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"It just hit me" Blue replied "If you hadn't told me off when I wanted to go to the Shetlands instead of here, Mr. Lisberg may have died out there just as he said. You were right about the risk I was taking... I owe you so much."

"Don't worry about it Blue, everyone makes mistakes."

"Except you of course" Blue said in obvious jest.

"Damn straight!" Calla smiled and lightly pinched Blues cheek.

She half skipped back into the main part of the house, turning back at the passage door to blow him a quick kiss. Blue could not help but smirk and shake his head as he stepped out the back door; he definitely enjoyed being around Calla much more when she was in a good mood.

'

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'

**With all the pressure off now this story is finished, I've started messing around with a couple of ideas for the third book in this series, as well as starting another short story for the Berk; Year Two series. Now is probably a good time to start working on Snoggletog 2020 as well.**

**The mornings are getting cooler as autumn marches on, so Boo Cat is now spending most of her time curled up in any cosy spot she can find instead of in the garden.**

**I'll try not to refer to you as Vampire Vin too much and bye for now everyone :D**


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

The fire popped and crackled, giving the house a cosy glow. The wind outside the house howled in warning, telling everyone not to dare venture out on such an uninviting evening. In front of the fire, four small dragons literally slept on top of each other while their owners sat nearby with their host.

"Is that your family?" Haley nodded towards some photos on the mantle above the fire.

"Yes my wife took our two boys on the first boat out to Alesund in Norway, back when the dragons first made themselves known. The townspeople decided to send the children first with a few men and women babysitters and I was to follow later with those left behind."

"Wise decision" Calla noted.

"So you all actually came to the Faroe Islands to find the dragons?" Simon wondered "How did you know they were here?"

"Educated guess" Blue smiled.

"Educated guess? How do you possibly become educated about dragons? They only appeared here a few weeks ago."

"You are looking at one of the leading dragon experts on this planet" Haley nodded.

"How many could there be?" Simon shrugged.

"Two; him and a guy named DeGroot" Calla smirked.

"But... I don't understand... how..."

"It's a long story but I'll try to make it brief" Blue leant forward "Over a thousand years ago, my ancestor Hiccup Haddock was the first Viking to befriend and train a dragon, ending a three hundred year war and bringing on the time of the Dragon Riders. Not long after, he and his fellow riders travelled to a small kingdom in Europe called Elydonia; a place that has become lost in time, much like the Dragon Riders and the Island of Berk. While in Elydonia, Hiccup encountered a man named Yolon DeGroot; a historian to the King who was in charge of the treasures of Bolthorn Castle. This man took it on himself to start keeping records of the Dragon Riders as well, because they were the King's allies. Over time the dragons went into hiding, Berk faded into history, and Yolon DeGroot passed on his task to his many descendants, who continued to follow the family line of Hiccup Haddock for centuries, and collected many ancient writings of the Dragon Riders. After losing the trail for fifteen years, he finally found me again and told me about my amazing ancestor."

"A bit careless of this DeGroot to lose you after his family had kept track for over a thousand years" Simon shrugged.

"To be fair, I was born on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean; my mother was then sent to Mars, and I was locked in a hidden underground base till about eighteen months ago. It is hard to keep track under those circumstances."

"I guess so... but it's such an amazing story... and I'm sure there is so much more to tell."

"You said it" Calla nodded knowingly.

"DeGroot managed to find me, mainly by pure luck, not long after we opened up the underground complex. And ever since that day, I've had access to much of the ancient writings of the Dragon Riders. As you could imagine, that information was very useful when we encountered these little guys" Blue nodded at the sleeping dragons.

"But do you seriously think you'll be able to handle something as big as the... what did you call it?"

"A Deadly Nadder; and I think I'll be able to win it over, with a little help from you" Blue smiled mischievously.

'

* * *

'

Blue and Calla decided to get an early start the next morning. They had a long way to go and only their feet to get them there.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" Haley asked as they pulled on their boots.

"I think it would be better if someone stayed here" Blue insisted "There's not much chance of the dragon returning but if it does, I want you to try and show it how well we get along with dragons. Take the Terrors out and just be with them, play with them, and feed them. If it shows some interest, play it by ear but don't put yourself in danger; there's no need to rush things."

"Okay, good luck."

"And to you too" Blue nodded "FIREFLY, DAISY, COME ON!"

The two dragons did as requested, although they really wanted to stay by the fire till the sun was up. There was just enough morning light to see the ground in front of their feet as Blue and Calla started to walk to the west. Long before the sun hit their backs, they found the road Simon had told them about and turned north. Just over a kilometre later they saw the top of the same fiord where they had left the Star Runner the day before and so as per Simon's instructions, they left the road to climb down the steep, rough hill.

"Are you sure this is right?" Calla asked as she stumbled on the uneven ground.

"According to Simon, the road we were on gets very hilly and twisty, but if we go this way there's a tunnel that will take us straight to the coast road."

"So this trip will be nothing more than one long game of Simon Says?"

"Pretty much, yeah" Blue agreed.

Soon Blue and Calla stood on the road in front of the tunnel mouth. It may have been the more level route, but the inky blackness did not look inviting at all.

"Ever since the day I met you, I always seem to be going back underground" Calla sighed.

"Just think of it as another great adventure" Blue said cheerily as he stepped inside.

Without even being asked, the dragons both opened their mouths and emitted a faint glow to light the way for the intrepid travellers.

"I hate you sometimes" Calla declared as she followed behind.

"No you don't" Blue smirked.

'

* * *

'

Back at the house, Haley finally got around to finishing the breakfast dishes and returned to the front room of the house. There she found Simon rubbing his ankle, while Azrail and Ginger Nut wrestled in front of the fire place.

"If you two are gonna play rough, take it out side" Haley told the dragons as she walked to the front door.

They both ran outside as soon as the door was opened and resumed playing as soon as they were out. Quickly shutting the door to keep the cold outside where it belonged, Haley then went to one of the comfortable chairs near the fire.

"How's you ankle?" she asked Simon.

"Not as sore as yesterday, but I think I'll need my walking stick for a few days yet. Speaking of legs, may I ask about yours?"

"Not bad is it? As prosthetics go, I myself think it's rather impressive" Haley bragged.

"But how did you come to loose..."

The sudden sound of panicked shouting outside brought all conversation to an end as Haley leapt up and rushed to the door, throwing it open with great force. She was greeted with the sight of her dragons dancing around two very upset looking men, who were trying to repel the creatures with hiking poles. Ginger Nut and Azrail expertly dodged each swing as the enjoyed what they thought was a game.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY DRAGONS?" Haley shouted angrily as she walked down the front steps.

"J-just get t-these beasts away from us" one of the frightened men begged.

"GINGER NUT, AZRAIL... COME!"

After taking to the air, the two dragons glided down and alighted on Haley's shoulders just as Simon appeared at the door, leaning heavily on his stick.

"What on Earth are you doing here?" he asked the men.

"We came to let you know the first boat will be back tomorrow" One of them said "You've been put on the list of early passengers so you can join your family."

"I don't think I'll be going yet because..."

"Because of her?" the man said accusingly.

"Hey! I don't like what your insinuating" Haley barked.

"What the hell is going on here, and who's this girl?" the other man demanded.

Simon shook his head and sighed; he had not expected this kind of trouble.

"Listen you fools, yesterday I had a very unfortunate encounter with the blue dragon. It left me unable to walk and I would have died last night if this lady and her two friends had not found me and brought me home. This morning the other two left to find the dragons so..."

"Wait... she can control dragons" the first man gasped.

"Maybe these strangers are the ones who have brought the dragons here... caused all this trouble" the second agreed.

"No we only got here yesterday and..." Haley began.

"You did this Simon!"

"You brought disaster on us all!" the men declared and hurried off as fast as their middle aged legs would carry them.

"Humph... good riddance" Haley sniffed as she turned to go back inside.

Simon watched as his neighbours slowly disappeared across the grass. He was very worried about what may happen next with the remaining townsfolk, and what they may tell his wife.

"Maybe it would be best if you went to find your friends" he said to Haley.

"It's your home so I'll leave if you want me too, but I'm not worried about them" she insisted.

"But I am" Simon replied "If they start spreading rumours about you and your connection with the dragons, things could get messy."

"I still not worried" Haley said confidently.

'

* * *

'

The middle of the tunnel contained several wrecked vehicles that were so old, they may have been there longer than Blue and Call had been alive. It took some effort to climb over and around the remains, but their journey went quite smoothly afterwards even though they still had about a kilometre to walk before the far end of the tunnel came into sight.

"About time too" Calla declared as the dragons flew on ahead towards the bright daylight.

"I thought spending so much time with you in a dark place was very romantic" Blue grinned.

"You have a strange concept of what constitutes romance" Calla disagreed.

A little further down the road, the couple came to a junction where they turned left. Their path soon led them to another small shipping port that now contained nothing but wrecked trucks, pushed up to the low side of the road by a very large wave many years ago. A line of large houses dotted the high side of the road so Blue decided to take some precautions.

"FIREFLY, COME HERE!"

He opened his jacket, allowing the dragon to climb inside while Calla followed his example with Daisy. And so, looking like they had indulged in too many deserts, Blue and Calla walked on as casually as possible. Putting the dragons away turned out to be a good idea because as they reached the far end of the house row, they heard someone call out in a language they did not recognise.

"I'm sorry... but I don't understand" Blue answered the man who had called out.

"Oh, are you from England?" the man asked with an accent that reminded Blue of the way Simon spoke.

"I'm from New Zealand actually" Calla replied with a smile.

"New Zealand? Good heavens but you're a long way from home."

"I've been further" Calla winked at Blue, remembering her trip out in space.

"So then, where are you off to? We don't get many visitors in an isolated place like this, especially ones so young."

"We're headed round to the bridge; we want to go over to the next island" Blue admitted.

"Eysturoy? Oh you want be careful if you go there."

"Why?" Calla asked.

"Well let's just say there have been sightings of some pretty strange creatures near the northern coast of Eysturoy" the man said with concern.

Blue and Calla looked at each other with a sly delight, then Blue decided to see if he could push for more information.

"These strange creatures, would you describe them as... dragon-like?"

"Some would, in fact some have; but I think they're being a bit... melodramatic shall we say?"

"I suppose you could say that" Blue nodded and smiled "Well we've got a long walk ahead of us so thanks for your help and I think we'll be on our way."

"No problem... but are you sure you want to walk all the..."

Calla and Blue had almost gotten away without raising any suspicion, but at that very moment, Firefly let his curiosity get the better of him as he poked his head out of the top of Blue's jacked to have a look around.

"What in blazes have you got there?" the man gasped as he strode down from his house.

"Oh... nothing... just a pet lizard" Blue replied while trying to shove the dragons head back inside.

"That head... I'm sure I've seen it before."

"Oh I doubt it" Blue half laughed "Well... goodbye."

And with that said, Blue and Calla ran off down the road before the man could reach them. He watched them go with suspicion before going back to his house to fetch his coat and hat. From there he went back into the village to a house near the crossroad.

"THORSTON, ARE YOU IN THERE?" he called out as he beat on the front door.

"Yes yes I'm here" a voice came from deep inside "Who's that... Olaf?"

"Yes it's me; I need to look at those old paintings of yours."

The door opened to reveal a very large man with broad shoulders and a body shaped like a rain barrel.

"Alright... but do you have to bash m' door in ya daft pudding?"

"Sorry but this is urgent; I think I may have just seen one of them."

"Oh come on Olaf... don't tell you're starting to believe those dragon rumours?"

"Believe me Thorston, two kids just came through town, and I'm sure the boy had a dragon inside his jacket."

"Now I know you're crazy" Thorston said as he led the way inside "A dragon is so big, it could put you inside its jacket... assuming it had one."

Both men walked through to the back of the spacious home to a large comfortable room, lined with north facing windows down its length from floor to ceiling. Due to the lack of sunshine, Thorston had been keeping the curtains closed but when he opened them, a line of small framed paintings on the back wall became greatly illuminated. Olaf started from the western side of the room and slowly made his way along the wall, studying each painting with care.

"Here; this is the one" he pointed at the ninth picture.

"And you think you saw a boy with one of these giants stuffed down his shirt" Thorston smiled derisively.

"Well how big do they grow?" Olaf asked.

"Now you're talkin' like they're real" Thorston sighed "Let me check; each painting had rune writing on the back, someone in the family had it translated years ago."

Taking the small painting down, Thorston turned it over to reveal a piece of paper taped to the back of the frame.

"Ah let's see... it's called a Terrible Terror... and nose to tail they're about..."

"Well... what?" Olaf shook with excitement.

"Just over a meter... this is one of the small ones" Thorston admitted.

"HA! So the boy could have had one in his jacket."

"No... no they can't be real" Thorston fell heavily into a big leather chair.

"Maybe they are, and maybe the rumours about the big ones being seen are true as well."

"No... no they can't... wait, where were these kids going?"

"To the bridge; they said they needed to get to Eysturoy."

"Where most of the sightings have been" Thorston gasped.

All of a sudden he jumped up out of his chair and gave the frame in his hand to Olaf. He then started to take each painting off the wall, also handing each one to his friend who soon struggled with the ever increasing load.

"Get these out to the Land Rover; we're going after them" Thorston insisted

'

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'

**Hi everyone, how you feeling?**

**Even though I am not in isolation any more, of course there is no work so I'm still at home and I imagine many of you are too. It is slowly getting cooler down here in the southern hemisphere so hopefully it is getting warmer for those of you who are in the north.**

**You should see regular chapters for the next two months but in the unlikely case of me catching something, I'll probably post the rest all at once just in case.**

**Hopefully it won't come to that; good fortune to you all,**_** Marty :D**_


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42

The line of houses ended not long after Calla and Blue reached the eastern side of the bay where the road turned sharply north. With the last vestiges of civilisation now behind them, Firefly and Daisy were once more released to play and explore.

"Looks like Daisy is getting hungry" Calla noted as her dragon flew out over the water.

As they walked down the road, Blue and Calla could see Daisy circling around looking for an early lunch while Firefly scratched at the entrance of a hole where some small animal lay in hiding. After a few minutes, Daisy dove down into the sea and caught herself a good sized fish. It did not take long for Firefly to notice the tempting aroma when she returned, so he left the fortunate animal and tried to insist Daisy share her catch.

The sight of the dragons posing and half heartedly fighting over the fish, a meal that was clearly too big for either of them, made for a very amusing sight but Calla and Blue soon stopped chuckling when they heard a sound that was very rare in this day and age, an internal combustion engine.

"Daisy, Firefly... come here!" Blue ordered.

Unfortunately both Terrors were far too invested in devouring the fish, which was rapidly getting smaller as the sound of the motor grew louder. Running to the dragons, Blue and Calla snatched them up off the ground and tried to find a hiding place while Firefly and Daisy just continued to argue over the last of the fish.

Before they could hope to get away, a dark green four-wheel-drive rounded the sweeping bend behind and drove straight at the pair. It screeched to a halt far too close for their liking and as soon as the wheels had stopped turning, two men jumped out from the front seats.

"See... and there's two of them; I told you I wasn't imagining this."

Blue and Calla instantly recognised the first excited man, but the other one was a surprise.

"Terrible Terrors!" the large stranger smiled broadly "Two... genuine... Terrible Terrors."

The new man obviously needed at least another 75% of face area to fit in his massive grin. Daisy and Firefly may have managed to finish their meal, but the rapid approach of these loud men clearly did not amuse them. Firefly made this fact plain by shooting a fireball at the large man's feet.

"I'd step back if I were you" Blue warned.

"Yeah, or the next one might just hit you in the face" Calla added bluntly.

"Please... we mean no harm but... well... just come and see for yourselves."

The two men led the way to the rear of the vehicle. The dragons were still a bit skittish so Calla and Blue put them down and told them to stay. As soon as the large man dropped the tailgate, he started to lay out his collection of framed paintings.

"I suppose we should introduce ourselves; my name is Olaf and this is Mr. Thorston."

"Blue and Calla" Blue replied while still being cautious.

"Have a look at these my young friends, and please tell me what you can" Thorston begged.

The couple quickly looked over the pictures and were surprised at what they saw.

"Where on Earth did you get these?" Blue asked.

"They've been in my family for generations" Thorston smiled "Please tell me, what do you see here."

"Well you've got a Gronkle, that's a Razorwhip, a Zippleback and... oh my goodness."

Blue picked up one of the pictures to look closer.

"This is a Night Fury... and not just any Night Fury either,look at the tail. This is a picture of Toothless; the first dragon to be trained on Berk."

Olaf and Thorston started to turn over the picture frames and read the translations taped to the back.

"Gronckle, Zippleback... he got them all right! What about the others?" Thorston asked with glee.

"Err Rumblehorn, Deadly Nadder, Thunderdrum, Changewing, Skrill, Triple Stryke..."

As Blue went on, Olaf and Thorston continued to check each answer and became more and more excited with each correct identification.

"How do you know all this?" Thorston asked at last.

"Easy; he's a descendant of..."

"Calla!" Blue stopped her "Look I'm sorry gentlemen but we don't have time to talk. A man was injured yesterday and if we don't find the dragons soon, then who knows what could happen tomorrow."

"Are you planning to kill them?" Olaf wondered.

"No I am not!" Blue stated adamantly "If it's at all possible, I intend to get closer and befriend them in the same way we did with the Terrors; and then hopefully train them to live with humans rather than fight them."

"Or die in the attempt" Calla declared courageously.

"Well... I hope it won't come to that" Blue admitted.

"Olaf said you were headed for the Eysturoy bridge" Thorston said eagerly "We could give you a lift if you like."

Blue and Calla looked to each other and shrugged.

"I guess so" Blue decided.

"Great; come on Olaf" Thorston tried to out grin his previous record as he shoved the paintings back inside the vehicle and closed the tailgate.

Blue and Calla returned to their patiently waiting dragons as the two men got into their seats and started the engine. Firefly and Daisy seemed much more relaxed now they had seen their humans getting along so well with the boisterous strangers, but when Blue and Calla tried to take them inside the four-wheel-drive, both dragons made it clear they were having none of it. The large vehicle looked like a trap to them and that was the end of the matter as far as the dragons were concerned.

"Sorry gents, but I don't think we'll be able to take up your offer" Blue said not wanting to upset the dragons.

"Oh... I see..." Thorston's face fell.

Calla and Blue put their dragons down and said goodbye to the men, but as they started to walk away, they soon noticed the vehicle was following them. Turning around they saw Olaf had climbed out and was standing on the running board while holding on to the roof rack.

"How about this?" he called out "You can ride like this and your dragons can fly alongside. Of course we'd go slowly, but it'll still get you to the bridge quicker than walking would."

Thorston stopped when Blue went back to the driver's side and stared at him.

"What are you two up to?" he said accusingly "And what exactly do you want from us."

"Please, I just want to know more about you and about the dragons. For so long now my family has believed that these pictures were nothing more than ancient art, created by one of our ancestors many centuries ago. Today I suddenly found out that one of the creatures was real and there was a strange boy from New Zealand who knew all about them."

"I'm not from New Zealand, Calla is" Blue corrected them.

"Who cares; you're not from around here, but you know all about dragons. And if that wasn't enough, you actually have two of the little blighters as pets."

"Actually we've got more than two" Calla blurted out.

"I just figured if we gave you a ride to the bridge, and maybe a little further, you could tell us more before you go" Thorston begged.

Blue looked over to Calla who just shrugged.

"Aright then, but Calla rides inside and Olaf stays out with me" Blue insisted and they both agreed.

Before they started off, Blue said one more surprising thing to Calla.

"I think it would be a good idea for you to have your little sharp friend with you."

"Okay" she smiled and took off her backpack.

Even though part of the wooden handle was plainly visible out of the top of the pack, both Olaf and Thorston were still very surprised when she removed a large American fire axe.

"Oh my goodness" Olaf gasped.

"It's not that we don't trust you, it's just that we really don't know you" Blue explained.

"Which means we don't trust you" Calla nodded.

The dragons watched with interest as Calla got in the vehicle with her axe while Blue stood on the outside running board.

"Come on guys" Blue called out as they started off but he need not have bothered.

As soon as the vehicle began to roll, both Daisy and Firefly leapt into the air and glided alongside. Calla looked out at them and noticed they actually seemed happier with the increase in pace. When Blue and Calla had been walking, the dragons would fly for a while, nosed around in the grass for a while, and then sit on an appropriate shoulder for a while, just to try and alleviate the boredom of a slow journey. Now they could fly without having to stop and wait for their wingless friends, and the aroma coming from the exhaust pipe seemed to interest them too.

"Why does this thing smell so funny" Blue asked Olaf.

"Oh that's because Thorston runs this thing on Titrated Fish Oil; you can't get normal diesel fuel anymore" he replied.

"No wonder the dragons love the smell so much, it's the aroma of dinner."

Without going into too much detail, Blue told Olaf and Thorston a few stories about his early life inside the Railgun Complex and eventually meeting DeGroot. He told them about the books he had studied to gain his dragon knowledge but left out the discovery of Old Berk. He only said that they had encountered the Terrors on their way across the Atlantic, setting out to rescue the fishermen from the Shetlands, and finally heading off to the Faroe Islands because of an educated guess that the fish stealing dragons had come from there.

Even driving slowly, it did not take long to get to the bridge. Thorston stopped on the far side and got out one of his maps from the glove box.

"You may want to look at this before you go" he said to Blue.

Once again he opened the tailgate but this time he unfolded the map on its surface.

"So where do you want to go to?" he asked.

After a quick look over the northern part of Eysturoy Island, Blue pointed out the marked mountain near the coast.

"Here... but I don't think I could pronounce it even if my life depended on it" he admitted.

"Ah you want to go to Slættaratindur" Olaf nodded.

"That's easy for you to say" Calla noted.

"Of course; that would be a very good place to start" Thorston agreed "There is a walking trail that starts four or five kilometres from here; we could take you there if you like."

"Um... okay... that would be appreciated" Blue smiled.

Soon they were on their way again, chatting about dragons, and the recent past while Firefly and Daisy circled around the Land Rover. When they reached the start of the mountain trail, Thorston stopped the vehicle and got out too.

"Maybe we should come along with you" he said eagerly "I would love to see the big dragon... if it is somewhere around here."

Blue suspected this would happen, but even though he believed Olaf and Thorston were sincere, he did not want to deal with two extra overly excited men if he should be lucky enough to find a wild dragon.

"You could come with us, but I was wondering; do you know a man named Simon Lisberg?"

Thorston looked a little confused, but Olaf certainly recognised the name."

"Yes I know Simon. He's got a farm above Sund."

"That's the guy" Blue smiled "I was wondering if you could show him your paintings, to see if he could confirm which one he saw."

"Our friend Haley is looking after him... and she had a couple of dragons with her too" Calla added.

That was enough for Thorston; the chance to see more dragons and to talk with someone who had actually seen a large one was just too tempting.

"Sure we can do that for you" he nodded "Come on Olaf."

Blue and Calla retrieved their backpacks from the rear seat of the vehicle, and they were soon waving goodbye to their new friends.

"Phew... I thought they'd never leave" Blue sighed.

"They weren't too bad" Calla shrugged.

"Well... no but you saw the way they spooked Firefly and Daisy when they arrived, so I wouldn't want to risk finding a wild dragon with them in our little party."

"Yeah... it does have disaster written all over it" Calla agreed as they started their long and arduous climb.

'

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'

**I must admit I'm feeling a little low at the moment. Not really deep down depressed or anything, just a little off track. One of the things I'm worrying about is although I know I'll be alright in the long run, I'm just not sure what's going to happen in the next month and I expect most of you are feeling the same way.**

**The news reports tell me that while C-19 is progressing slowly where I live, things are still pretty awful in Europe and will probably get much worse in both North and South America. I'm not sure how things are in the various areas of Asia but we have heard some bad predictions.**

**It was a real shock to hear about Prince Charles; I may not be a monarchist but don't want to see anyone his age suffer this illness. Makes me glad my own parents live in a farm district and are already naturally isolated.**

**Thanks to ****yorukakusaku**** from Poland for favouriting the story and good luck to Vin, Draco38 and all the other readers during this disturbing time.**

**Keep safe everyone, praying for you all, **_**Marty**_**.**


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

The mountain path started rising gradually but only got steeper as time went on. It looked like it had once been a well maintained hiking track that had probably been used by thousands of tourists, back during the time when the planet Earth still had tourists. Unfortunately in the years since the coming of the Sholf-4 meteorites, the path had been completely ignored, had washed out in several places, and had even suffered the ravages of a small avalanche or twelve.

Blue and Calla were both now very grateful for the help Thorston had given to get to the bottom of the mountain for if they had walked there, they probably would still be on the lower slopes by the end of the day. Instead they managed to get to the halfway trail marker early in the afternoon.

"I think I need to stop for a bit" Calla said as she deposited herself on the high side of the trail.

"Good idea" Blue agreed "This isn't an excessively high mountain so we don't have to worry about thin air and altitude sickness, but it's still quite a climb so it's best we don't overdo it. How are your legs feeling?"

"Ugh... they're so sore, I'm actually staring to envy Haley. When her leg hurts she can swap it for a fresh one."

Fool that he was sometimes, Blue was about to explain that artificial limbs did not work that way, when he suddenly noticed the cheeky grin on Calla's face.

"I gotcha, didn't I?" she smirked.

"Maybe" Blue sniffed.

They rested for about fifteen minutes more before continuing the climb. Looking back down, they could see the trail had not only taken them up the mountain, but also half way around it. They had started on the inland side of the mountain, but now the Norwegian Sea was stretching out before them.

Even though this wide body of rough water was quite impressive, Blue and Calla beheld a much more spectacular sight at that very moment; looking up the slope they saw a Deadly Nadder gliding down the mountain slope a few hundred meters in front of them.

"Oh wow!" was all Calla could manage to say, which was more than Blue could manage.

They watched wide eyed as the impressive dragon continued down before levelling out and disappearing out over the ocean. Half a minute later, Blue and Calla looked at each other with the same stunned look on their faces normally reserved for people who had just been entertained by a singing frog. The looks of mild shock slowly evolved in to smiles of great joy and much to Firefly and Daisy's surprise, they both held each other tightly while dancing around in a circle and laughing uncontrollably. Firefly just sat on a nearby rock and assumed they were incredibly upset for some reason, while Daisy decided it must be some kind of weird human mating ritual. Neither of the Terrors could have guessed it was because of the other dragon; they had both lost count of the number of Nadders they had seen in course of their lives.

"What do we do now?" Calla asked when she had stopped bouncing.

"We find where it came from" Blue said excitedly.

Suddenly endowed with extra energy, Blue started running up the trail with Calla and the dragons not far behind. He did his best to judge where they had seen the dragon fly by and when he believed he was close, he left the trail and started to climb straight up. He was still able to walk upright but the slope was much steeper and the ground much rougher. He soon came to a distinct line which marked where the grass covered slope ended, and the baron rock strewn crown of the mountain peak began.

He had not gone far along this rugged ground before he came to a place that could not have said 'Dragon's Nest' more plainly without the inclusion of a neon sign. There was a cave like hollow in the side of the mountain, where rocks had been scratched out to create a bare patch of ground for the dragon to rest itself. Outside the hollow entrance and down the slope a short distance, the bones and remains of several animals and many fish littered the hillside.

"Is this where it lives? It must be" Calla answered her own question.

"Right then, let's set ourselves up over there" Blue pointed to a spot to his left.

"What exactly do you mean by set ourselves up?"

"The dragon has obviously been living here for a while, but it has also been doing some travelling too" Blue noted "It took us more than a day to sail up from where we rescued the fishing boat, but I'd guess the dragon could have flown the distance in four of five hours. Based on that assumption, we can't really know if it will be back in ten minutes, or just before nightfall."

"So we camp nearby?"

"Yes" Blue nodded "Not too close, or else we'll spook it; and not too far away because I want it to notice us."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Calla wondered.

"Better than surprising it" Blue shrugged.

The Nadder had clearly chosen the best spot for cover, so Blue and Calla had to be satisfied with a small rock overhang nearby. Unable to pack tents with all the other needed supplies, they made do with a small storm sail from the Star Runner. For the next few hours they took turns keeping watch for the Nadder while the other would pile rocks on the side of their overhang, as a windbreak for the coming night.

Daisy and Firefly stayed close by for a while before they too flew down to the ocean. Through his binoculars he could just make then out as they dove in the water for fish, before returning to rock on the shore to feed. When they were both full, the dragons returned and took a nap in what little sunlight there was. Finally with the sun low in the sky, the sight they had been waiting for finally came into view as the unmistakable outline of a Deadly Nadder approached from just below the clouds.

"Calla; take a seat with the dragons... and um... sit casually" Blue said as he placed his backpack near his feet where he could easily get at it.

The Nadder swooped down in the direction of its cave until it noticed the young man standing not far away. It had clear memories of having encountered creatures like this before, and so the dragon took a defensive posture. It swept around away from Blue before turning back and landing in front of the cave mouth; facing the intruder with wings outstretched and tail high, ready to strike. Opening its mouth wide, the Nadder let out a deafening cry so loud, it made Blue's ears hurt.

"Hello" Blue replied with his arms down at his sides.

The young man's reply actually surprised the dragon, who was more used to a lot of screaming, shouting, and running away. In some desperation, it roared out again.

"My my but you have an incredible voice... and what a handsome boy you... sorry, I mean what a beautiful girl you are" Blue corrected himself when he noticed the Nadder's distinctive markings.

The dragon lowered its tail and wings a little and bobbed its head from side to side, looking the strange boy over. She looked for any threatening sign but could not see anything. What she did see though was another human, small and female, sitting not far away with two very alert Terrible Terrors. The tiny dragons did not seem to mind her presence and she appeared to be petting them, keeping them calm.

The young man standing in front of her did not appear to be any threat, but his presence still made the Nadder somewhat nervous. She had previously seen examples of the human face show fear, anger and several other negative emotions, but she did not know what to make of the calm and contented face in front of her.

"I've got something I hope you'll like" Blue said as he reached down for his backpack.

"RHAAK" the Nadder cried threateningly as she backed up a little.

"No no... it's okay" Blue said reassuringly as he removed something he had been able to procure from Simon Lisberg.

The dragon's cautious fear soon gave way to curiosity and anticipation as Blue brought out something the dragon had never seen before, but it smelled absolutely delicious.

"Would you like some roast chicken?"

The Nadder sniffed the air but did not come any closer, so Blue tried to temp the dragon by tearing off a drumstick and taking a bite.

"Mmmm, delicious; would you like some" he held the chicken leg out.

Slowly and tentatively, the Nadder craned her neck forward and carefully took offered morsel. With one crunch, the dragon's mighty jaws shattered the drumstick before swallowing it. She did indeed find the snack delicious and hoped the boy would share some more, but much to the dragons delight, he held out the entire chicken.

"Here... you can have it."

The dragon stretched her neck out again and picked up the roasted bird in her beak, much like a human would pick up something with their thumb and forefinger. She then tossed her head back and devoured the tasty meal while savouring its flavour and texture.

"Good isn't it?" Blue said as he took a step forward.

Even though the Nadder was no longer afraid of a surprise attack from Blue, she was not yet sure if she could trust him.

"It's okay girl, look."

Blue looked back and called to Firefly. The little dragons head popped up at the sound of his name, then he jumped down from the rock he sat on, scurried across the ground and leapt up on to Blue's shoulder.

"Good boy" Blue smiled as he scratched the dragons chin.

Firefly trilled with delight and rubbed his cheek on the top of Blues head. Hoping this demonstration had allayed the Nadders fears, he held out the palm of his hand.

"Come on girl, come and say hi."

Calla held her breath as she watched the giant beast take one step forward and sniff at the hand. She had her head scar, Haley had an artificial leg, and now she feared Blue would soon have a hook on the end of his right arm. Eventually Calla realised she need not have worried, for Blue was soon petting the side of the dragon's head making it purr so loudly, the ground started to softly vibrate.

"You are a good girl" Blue smiled.

The Nadder found it hard to believe her luck; she had flown out to feed and patrol the area for possible danger, and returned to find a couple of small dragons and their friendly humans. The young man scratching her chin suddenly stopped and pointed towards the other human.

"Calla" he said her name to the dragon and gestured for her to stand up.

"Do you want me to come over there?" Calla asked as she stood.

"No, let us come to you" Blue replied.

He took one step towards Calla while still looking at the dragon.

"Come on girl... come and meet Calla."

The Nadder's head moved a little from side to side as she watched Blue move closer to the other human.

"I know this may be patronising and humiliating, so I hope you'll excuse me" Blue whispered to Calla.

Much to the young ladies surprise, Blue actually patted her on the head before rubbing his cheek on her ear.

"Come on girl, come and meet Calla; she's really nice."

The Nadder pondered the small group; the boy was friendly, the Terrors were obviously happy to be with the humans, and so there was no reason for her to think the girl would be any trouble either. Very slowly, the dragon took a few steps forward while Blue continued to stroke Calla's hair. As she came closer, Blue put out his hand to the Nadder and lightly rubbed her cheek again.

"Okay Calla... slowly do what I'm doing."

Her heart racing, Calla lifted up her arm. She was fully aware that the dragon could see it move but did not seem to mind. Placing her hand on the other cheek, she lightly rubbed the dragon's rough skin.

"Oh wow... she's amazing."

Calla was mildly alarmed when Blue took a step back, but the Nadder seemed just a happy with her as it had been with him.

"Daisy, come here" Blue called and the other Terror soon joined Firefly on his shoulders.

"What are you doing?" Calla asked, a little worried.

"Trying to give the Nadder an idea" Blue replied as he walked a short distance away.

The large dragon watched as the boy wandered about, occasionally petting one of the Terrors. A short time later, while Calla continued to pet her new friend, Blue walked back and placed his hand on the dragon's cheek again. He did not stop, but instead moved slowly back along the Nadder's left side, keeping the tips of his fingers along its neck so she always knew where he was. He stopped and patted the dragons back to see how she would react. The Nadder turned her head to look at him but her attention soon returned to Calla; and so with that step complete, he decided to try and teach the dragon by example.

After fetching a spare pair of socks from his pack, Blue took the Terrors a short distance away and threw the small bundle up the slope. This was a game the Terrors had enjoyed ever since they had started playing it back on Berk. It was like a game of fetch, but the winning dragon who managed to retrieve the sock ball first was given tummy rub, or sometimes, a food treat. I the end, the reward became unimportant as the dragons grew to love the simplicity of play.

He tossed the sock ball several times for the terrors, taking careful note of how the Nadder would watch them with interest. The socks seemed a little small for such a big dragon so Blue removed his jacket, and then the woollen sweater he had underneath. After replacing his jacket, he rolled up the sweater into a ball and tied the arms together to hold it all in place.

"Come on girl, ya wanna play?" he said as he tossed the socks again.

The dragon looked at Calla and seemed to be asking her to come too as it took a step forward. The young girl happily obliged and together they wandered over to where Blue and the Terrors were playing.

"Here" Blue smiled as he tossed the large ball to Calla.

Turning to face the dragon, Calla teased her a little.

"Ya want it, huh, do ya?" she smiled before hurling the makeshift ball down the hill.

'

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'

**Naturally nothing much has changed in the last few days but I'm still going strong(ish). Boo Cat loves the fact that I'm nearly always home but I do enjoy getting out occasionally, since our city isn't on lock-down yet. **

**Thanks Draco38 (there are those who call him... Tim) for the pep talk, and hope, thanks to your stories, that you do well should the zombie apocalypse come in the near future. I've never seen High School of the Dead so I must check it out if I get the opportunity.**

**Hi also to Vin (hope things are improving in Italy} and to Madhuntr, a story follower from Germany, where some of my ancestors hail from.**

**Back with more story soon, **_**Marty**_


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

It was not long before the sun began to dip below the horizon, but Blue and Calla did manage to get in a good half hour of play with the dragons before stopping to watch the sunset.

"I don't think I'll be wearing this anymore" Blue noted as he looked over the remains of his sweater.

Calla sat with her arm over the Nadder's neck as she took in the beautiful colours of sunset, while to her side, Blue lay down with a pair of Terrors half laying on his chest.

"Hey Calla, look at Firefly and Daisy" Blue whispered.

"Yeah... cute" she smiled.

"You should do this to the Nadder" he suggested "Climb on her back and hug her neck; make it seem like a normal part of human/dragon friendly interaction."

"Are you sure she won't get angry?"

"I doubt it; she seems really happy and content."

Calla had a feeling Blue was right, but she was still a little nervous as she stood up and took a step back. The bulbous head of the Nadder turned slightly so she could watch the girl with one eye, but did not seem in the least perturbed as Calla climbed on the dragons back and hugged her neck as Blue had suggested.

"I love you girl" she said quite honestly.

The dragon purred as if in agreement, causing a shiver to travel all the way through Calla's body. While she was more than pleased to be bonding with the dragon, there was something that still bothered her.

"Blue... I don't get it; why was it so easy to make friends with this Nadder?" she asked.

"Two reasons" Blue replied "Firstly there was all the information the Berkians left for us, but more importantly none of the dragons we've encountered were born into war."

"So they're not as aggressive" she smiled "...cool."

'

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'

Calla awoke the next morning in slight discomfort. She and Blue had not used the makeshift shelter they had built and probably never would. Instead they had both spent the night lying on the ground with Daisy and Firefly, under the wing of the Deadly Nadder, at the back of its cave. Considering how high up the mountain they were, they enjoyed a warm and restful night. It was only a light tapping on Calla's hip that woke her up the next morning. She looked down to find Daisy was the one responsible, twitching slightly as she dreamt.

"Hey... stop that" Calla whispered as she turned the little dragon away from her.

At the sound of her voice, the Nadder turned its head back and lightly nuzzled the young girl.

"Oh... you're awake" Calla smiled.

She then realise the dragon was actually waiting for Calla and Blue, keeping them warm and letting them rest. The low noises and slight movement of the dragon's body also woke Blue, and soon he was yawning and stretching.

"That was quite a windstorm we had last night" he noted "I'm glad we were safe in here. Well... what have you come up with?"

As the couple had curled up in each other's arms the previous night, Blue had tried to come up with a name for their new friend, but Calla had not been impressed with any of his suggestions and had insisted she would come up with something better by morning.

"You said the Dragon Rider Astrid had a Nadder, so what did she call hers?"

"Stormfly" Blue yawned again.

Calla repeated this name a few times in her head a few times and thought about how it reflected the power and majesty of such a dragon; and then she remembered something Blue had just said.

"Then I think I will call her... Windstorm."

Blue considered the title and nodded.

"More than suitable" he smiled in agreement.

"So um... what do we do now?"

"Well if Windstorm is okay with it, we'll all go out and catch us some breakfast" Blue smiled as he got up and climbed onto the Nadder's back.

As he had hoped, the huge dragon was already accustomed to being this close with her young friends. After Blue had reached down and helped Calla up as well, the dragons stood and walked outside.

"Why am I sitting in front?" Calla asked.

"Because Windstorm is your dragon, so you should be the one to pilot her" Blue insisted.

"ME? But I don't know how to fly a dragon!"

"You don't have to; Windstorm already knows" Blue smiled reassuringly.

His words proved to be true as Windstorm stretched out her wings, felt the direction and speed of the breeze, and lifted up into the air.

"eep!" Calla gasped as the ground fell away.

"Don't worry, just lightly hold on to the spines on the back of her head" Blue pointed to them.

Calla tentatively did a Blue suggested, while worrying if the dragon might suddenly become annoyed and toss them off.

"Not too tight, let Windstorm go wherever she wants to go."

As they flew down the slope of the mountain, Blue looked around and was please by what he saw.

"Look" he said, grabbing the top of Call's head and turning it to the left.

Not far away, Calla could see Daisy was flying alongside them. While Windstorm flew straight and steady, the little Terror banked from side to side and even did the occasional barrel roll. When she looked to the right, Calla noticed Firefly doing the same thing.

"This is incredible" she cried out as she slowly became accustomed to being on a flying dragon.

Just as they had seen Windstorm do the day before, she levelled out near the base of the mountain and flew out over the sea. She glided high and fast, only occasionally beating her enormous wings to keep up her speed. Calla soon noticed the dragon turning her head from side to side as she scanned the surface of the ocean, looking for the tell-tale shadow of a school of fish. Their high vantage point soon proved most advantageous when the sought after black patch finally came into view.

All three dragons dove down at a steep angle, approaching the rear of the school at an even higher speed, catching the fish completely by surprise. With a quick flick of her splayed claws, Windstorm snatched a large Albacore Tuna out of the sea before dipping her head down and taking another in her jaws. Now fully laden, the Nadder then rose up and banked around towards home once again. The Terrors each picked up one of the smaller fish circling around the school of tuna; and so only a few minutes later, they were all back on the rocky coast of Eysturoy.

Windstorm placed the fish in her claws on the rocks for Calla and Blue, before she dropped the one in her jaws and started to pick at it.

"What do we do now?" Calla asked while looking worriedly at the tuna.

"We eat" Blue smiled "Don't worry though because I was hoping this would happen. It looks like Windstorm has accepted us as a part of her weyr."

"Her what?" Calla asked.

"Her weyr... w, e, y, r; it's the collective noun for a group of dragons."

"Okay, now you're just being a smartarse" Calla sneered "Herd or flock I can handle, but weyr if just weird."

Having come prepared, Blue took a sharp pocket knife out of his pocket and proceeded to clean the fish. The Terrors, having finished their own already, took great delight in finishing off anything Blue threw away.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Calla wondered.

"Oh we have quite a large aquaponics systems inside the Railgun Complex" Blue answered "Nothing quite as tasty as fresh fish."

"But how are you going to cook it?"

"Ah yes; did you know dragons have over a thousand uses?" Blue grinned.

He looked around the area and found a good sized flatish rock, made nice and smooth by thousands of years of wave erosion. He placed it on a large boulder and called to the Terrors.

"Firefly, Daisy, fire blast" he pointed to the rock.

A series of flame balls hit the rock in quick succession, making it quite warm. Windstorm was not sure why Blue wanted the rock heated up, but she was sure she could do a much better job. So she left her half eaten tuna, craned her head over the rock and opened her jaws. The almost white light Windstorm emitted was so strong, Calla and Blue were forced to shield their eyes.

"Oh good girl" Blue smiled at the rock as it glowed bright red.

All three dragons watched with interest as Blue fried up the two halves of the tuna. It was such a large fish, he and Calla had more than enough with just one piece and so as they ate, many portions were tossed to the dragons, and all of them loved the flavour of cooked tuna. Windstorm liked it so much, she went back to the fish she had already half eaten and cooked what was left herself. Blue and Calla found it fascinating to watch the dragon heat another rock and place the fish on top.

"They learn quickly don't they?" Calla noted.

"No doubt about it" Blue agreed

With breakfast eventually finished, Blue decided to take the plunge and try to teach Windstorm a few things. He knew Astrid Hofferson had believed the Nadders intelligence to be the highest amongst dragons; and even though Blue knew she had a bias towards them, he suspected she was right.

"Dragon" he said, pointing to Firefly.

"Human" he pointed to Calla.

He was pleased to see Windstorm was actually interested. He repeated himself a few times, pointing also to Daisy and himself, and even to Windstorm; then he felt it was time to make the lesson more comprehensive.

"Dragon... Firefly" he pointed "Dragon... Daisy; Dragon... Windstorm... Windstorm.

Just as he had done before, Blue repeated himself several times while the Nadder and everybody else watched with interest. Calla was particularly fascinated. It never would have occurred to her that dragon training would involve such simple techniques. A warm feeling of pride washed over her as she considered how smart Blue really was, and she felt quite fortunate to have him in her life. After ten minutes of changing around the lesson between names of individuals and species, Blue took a new tack that surprised the young lady.

"Dragon..." he pointed to Windstorm, and then to Firefly and Daisy "Dragon... Dragon."

He then turned away from Windstorm and slowly waved his hand over the horizon.

"Dragon?" he pointed north.

"Dragon?" he pointed east.

"Rhaaak!" Windstorm stood up.

Poor Calla did not know what was going on, but Blue was overjoyed. Windstorm was not sure why, but it seemed that the human named Blue wanted to find more dragons; and she could help because she knew of another dragon living not far away.

"Come on Calla" Blue smiled as he hurried to the Nadder and climbed on her back.

As soon as Calla had joined them, Windstorm lifted off and flew east. She flew high up over the island of Kalsoy, and on to the largely uninhabited island of Kunoy. Swooping down from the clouds, Windstorm glided down to the north-eastern side of the island where, in the shadow of a tall mountain peak, a Monstrous Nightmare lay sleeping.

"Look at that!" Calla gasped.

"I dare say that is the dragon Mateo saw when the fishing boat was attacked; and Windstorm would have been the other dragon they heard but did not see" Blue noted.

The Nadder knew it would not be wise to surprise the Nightmare, so she gave a loud announcement call before coming in to land, well away from the big red dragon. Upon hearing Windstorms cry, the Nightmare raised its head and watched as the familiar Nadder swooped down. At first his visage was merely one of mild annoyance at being disturbed during his nap, but when he saw the two humans drop down to the ground, he leapt up into a state of panicked aggression. The Nightmare advanced on the group, emitting a powerful roar which Windstorm returned while arching her tail in defence. The two dragons circled each other in a standoff, the Nadder always protecting her friends with her wings.

There is no way of knowing how long this posturing would have gone on if Blue had not acted. Moving back a little, he called to Firefly and whispered an order to the Terror while pointing out to sea. Then he ducked down under Windstorm's wing and placed his hand on the side of her head.

"It's alright girl" he said calmly.

Blue then took another step forward, sat down on a rock and much to Calla's surprise, he started to sing. It was no particular song, just a melody in a pleasing major key but it had the desired effect. Just like Windstorm, the Nightmare had encountered several humans before. The resulting screams, shouting and anger had definitely tarnished his opinion of the species, but now he began to see that these two were not like anyone he had interacted with before; and it was not just the music.

The Nadder had allowed these humans to ride on her back, when she could have just thrown them off or bitten them in half. Now she was threatening to fight, just to protect them. There must be something more to this; the boy even seemed to be on good terms with one of the Terrors.

Still only half sure he was not on any danger, the Nightmare lessened his aggressive stance a little to see if the Nadder would reciprocate; which she did. Together, and slowly, both dragons backed down from the mild fracas, but continued to look at each other with suspicion.

"Calla, I'd like you to do me a favour" called back.

Stepping forward a little so she could hear him better, Calla asked what he wanted her to do.

"Get on Windstorm, and fly back to Simon's house; get Haley and bring her back here."

"What! Are you serious? I can't leave you alone with..."

"I'll be okay... the Nightmare is over the shock of meeting us and he seems pretty calm now."

"Are you sure about this?" Calla asked nervously.

"Absotively posolutely" Blue replied.

She still did not feel good about leaving him to the mercy of this dragon, but Blue must have had his reasons.

"Come on Windstorm, we gotta go" Calla said as she climbed up.

To say the Nightmare was surprised to see the Nadder leave, would have been something of an understatement. He was pleased she was gone from his territory, but why did she leave this boy and a Terror? As if having these two hanging around wasn't bad enough, the other Terror soon returned making the Nightmare feel outnumbered; it was as if these strangers were slowly taking over.

"Good boy" the young man petted Firefly.

Blue was pleased the little dragon had fulfilled his mission, and had brought back the biggest fish a Terror could carry.

"Would you like this" Blue stood and offered the fish to the Nightmare.

Two days ago, Firefly would not have believed he would gladly fly out to sea and catch a fish, just so it could be given to a bigger dragon; but then he had seen what his human friends could do. Last night the Terrors had both slept very well, knowing they did not have to worry about predators. Never before had they been protected by one of the larger dragons; they would normally sleep close together, using the Safety in Numbers defence method. He also remembered how much fun he and Daisy had enjoyed playing games with the Nadder; so if Blue needed fish to win over the normally grumpy Nightmare, Firefly was happy to provide them.

"Come on boy... you'll like it" Blue smiled.

The Nightmare took one sniff of the offered snack, found there was nothing out of the ordinary about its smell, and then took it with gratitude.

"There's a good dragon" Blue said quietly as he rubbed the Nightmares chin.

As was usual, the dragon enjoyed both the meal, and the attention but Blue knew he still had a long way to go before he could hope to ride his new friend. While he waited for Calla and Windstorm to return, Blue decided it would be best if he simply found more basic ways to bond with the dragon; but while this was a good idea, he would never get the chance to try it.

Firefly and Daisy where the first to be aware of approaching trouble and scampered off to hide behind some nearby rocks. A second later, the Nightmare also sensed incoming intruders; he lifted his head and roared at the sky, tensing himself for battle. Blue suddenly felt like there were rocks in the pit of his stomach when he heard the roar returned from multiple directions behind him.

The young man turned quickly to see four more dragons approaching fast; three were as black as night, and the fourth shone bright like the moon.

'

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'

**Just took a few days off writing to get my head back on track, and it worked well. Took a few long bike rides, did some woodwork in the garage and watched some old black and white sci-fi movies. I guess you just can't do the same thing over and over again, or as poet William Cowper once wrote, Variety is the very Spice of Life.**

**Be spicy everyone, **_**Marty **_**;D **


	45. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Blue and the Nightmare soon found themselves being surrounded by a Light Fury and three Night Furys. The four dragons circled overhead for a short time before one of them touched down and roared.

"Hi there... well this is a surprise" Blue blurted out.

He took a step forward and tried to look as non-threatening as he could, but all Blue got for his trouble was a ball of blue plasma fired near his feet.

"Okay so you don't want to be friends then" Blue said as he was showered with rock dust.

The Nightmare moved in front of Blue to protect him in the same way it had seen Windstorm do back when he himself had threatened the humans. In response, the other three Furys landed beside their colleague to back him up. Now that they were all on the ground, Blue could see the first to land was the largest of the group and therefore must have been their leader. He wondered if he could try and appeal to this Night Fury and possibly de-escalate the situation but before he had the chance, the Nightmare grabbed the back of Blue's jacket, tossed the boy onto his back and shot up into the sky.

This move surprised the Furys even more than it surprised Blue, and they were all quite slow to respond. This situation did not last long though and soon all four were in pursuit of the escapees. Not knowing what to do, the Nightmare took the gamble of following Windstorm to the southwest, hoping to gain some allies in this unwanted fight.

Down on the ground, Firefly and Daisy crawled out from their hiding places and followed the other dragons at a safe distance while up ahead, things were going from bad to worse for the Nightmare and his passenger.

The Furys could all easily best the Nightmare with speed and firepower, so they flew up on his left side and shot a succession of plasma blasts to drive the fleeing dragon around to the north. The leader of the group then shoved his head into the red dragon, pushing him even further around, until he was going exactly where they wanted him to go.

As Firefly watched, he realised exactly what the Furys were up to and just like the Nightmare, the little Terror also realised they all needed help; so he roared to Daisy and pointed his head back to the southeast. Knowing precisely what he meant, Daisy turned and flew off to get Calla and Windstorm, while Firefly continued to follow the Furys and their captives.

Once the group were well out over the ocean, the Furys suddenly showed another side of themselves Blue would never have expected; particularly based on what he had learned from the writings of Hiccup and Fishlegs. Now that the Nightmare was on the course they wanted, the Furys had taken up positions all around their captive; above, below, left and right. The dragon on the left side then moved in below the Nightmares wing, while the one on the right moved in on top; and then suddenly and without warning, they used their bodied as rams to send the Nightmare into a complete roll, throwing Blue off the dragons back and sending him plummeting into the sea.

The Nightmare panicked and tried desperately to dive down and save the boy, but the Furys would not allow it. They snapped at the red dragon and threatened him with glowing blue plasma, but he refused to yield to their bullying tactics. Down in the water, Blue was desperately trying to keep afloat, a task not made easy thanks to his heavy clothing and hiking boots. Finally and with little other choice, the lead Fury swooped down to where the boy struggled and grabbed him roughly by the shoulders, lifting him back up into the sky. The Fury then showed the Nightmare who he had, while wearing a very smug look on his face that seemed to say 'You want him, then come and get him' before flying off to the north once more.

'

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'

Although Calla did not know the problems Blue was currently having, she was disappointed to find she and Windstorm were also flying into trouble when they arrived back at the farmhouse of Simon Lisberg. Out in front of the house, a small group of men had gathered and appeared to be trying to get in but were being held back by Haley and Simon, who were each brandishing some kind of firearm. A few more were at the back door of the home where Thorston and Olaf were doing the defending.

Calla decided she needed more information about what was going on and in order to get it, she would have to be down on the ground. To get on the ground near to Haley, she needed space and to get that space, she needed those men to move back there was no doubt about it, they had to go.

Before anyone on the ground became aware of the approaching Nadder, Calla guided Windstorm in a dive near the right side of the house before pulling out and speeding by, just above head height. The turbulence caused by the dragon's expansive wings knocked the unsuspecting men back, some of them even falling to the ground. The shock was so great, each one clambered to his feet and retreated from the immediate area.

"WAAH-HOOO" Haley jumped and shouted as Calla brought her dragon in to land near the house.

"You did it... you really did it... you found the dragon!"

"Haley, meet Windstorm" Calla said as she dropped down from the dragons back.

"Windstorm...he's beautiful."

"She's beautiful" Calla corrected "according to Blue anyway; so what's happening here?"

"Oh some guys from a town down on the coast came to see Simon and went nuts when they saw the Terrors; they even tried to blame us for bringing the dragons here."

Behind them Simon walked down the front steps of his home, still leaning heavily on his cane.

"Oh my..." he gasped "...this is the dragon that attacked me... and you've tamed it?"

"I don't think you'll have any more trouble with Windstorm" Calla smiled "Now let's take care of this misunderstanding."

While Haley fawned over the new dragon, Calla strode over to the rapidly regrouping men with Simon hobbling along behind her.

"HEY YOU IDIOTS, WE DIDN'T BRING THE DRAGONS HERE, BUT WE DID COME TO TAKE THEM AWAY!"

"How do we know you didn't bring them?"

"Use your brain man" Simon called out "These young people have only recently arrived, but the dragons were first seen here months ago."

"Well how did they get here then; and why did they come?" someone else barked.

"We sailed here after rescuing some fishermen from the Shetlands" Calla replied "My friend Blue worked out the dragons that had attacked those fishermen may have come from here, so we set sail as soon as we could."

"And now you're using the dragons to attack us" another said accusingly.

"Hey, you were attacking my house" Simon retaliated "we were only defending ourselves."

"Yeah... chill out and learn something" Calla sneered "Blue managed to win over this dragon with love, respect and one roast chicken. And now he's trying to do the same with the other dragon; so do you want us to go home and leave you to cope with the Monstrous Nightmare by yourselves, or do you wanna back off and let us work?"

"I want you to stop all these lies."

The voice came from the centre of the group and was accompanied by a fist sized rock. The eyes of a Nadder are very sharp, meaning Windstorm immediately noticed the projectile and could see it was arcing straight towards Calla's head. So without even moving, the dragon spat out a small fireball and blasted the rock into dust. Everyone gasped as the remains of the rock blew back towards the crowd, giving Calla the current advantage.

"If you go home now, you'll go home intact. But if you try and get violent, I can't guarantee you'll live to see the sunset."

"Look... um... sorry about the rock... it was only one of us..." the man in front tried to explain.

"Then take him home and tell him to show some self control... better yet, lock him in the cellar for a few days" Simon barked.

The men considered what their next move should be and as they conversed in a huddle, Olaf and Thorston came around the front with the men who were trying to enter by the back of the house; and each one was held with one arm behind his back.

"Well I can see you don't need our help" Thorston smiled "What do you want us to do with these two?"

"Oh just put 'em with those other idiots" Simon growled.

"Alright... we'll leave, but this isn't over" the leader of the group told them.

"You bet your life it isn't over" Simon replied "As far as I'm concerned, you all owe me and these people an apology."

"Apology!? For trying to protect our homes from these... beasts?"

"NO! FOR GOING OFF YOUR TREE WITHOUT EVEN TALKING TO ME! NOW GET OUT OF HERE" Simon insisted.

"Can we have our guns back?" Someone dared to ask.

"NO!" Simon, Thorston and Olaf all said in unison.

"Guns?" Calla asked as the small group walked away down the hill.

"Where do you think we got these" Haley held out the shotgun in her hand.

"There's a pile of what's left of the rest over by the door" Simon nodded towards the house.

Calla looked to the door and indeed saw a pile of wood and metal that at one time could have been a number of firearms.

"Ginger Nut and Azrail did a great job of disarming those fools" Haley smiled "Took 'em all completely by surprise."

"Now that they're gone, tell us all about your new dragon" Thorston said with excitement.

"Sorry guys but I don't have time" Calla shook her head "Blue told me to come and get Haley and I don't want to leave him alone with a Monstrous Nightmare for too long."

"A Monstrous Nighmare?" Thorston beamed and ran to his vehicle.

Searching through the back of the Land Rover, he soon found the portrait he was looking for and returned to the group.

"Take a peek at this Olaf, he looks like a nasty one."

"How exciting" Olaf replied "You will bring him back here, won't you?"

"Don't worry boys, I'm sure we'll visit again before we leave; we still have some gear in the house and a yacht down at Sund" Calla noted.

"Just give me a minute to grab my pack and we'll be on our way" Haley said as she dashed for the door.

While Haley was inside, Windstorm took great delight in all the attention she was receiving. She had had really begun to trust in Calla's ability to tell good people from bad, so the dragon had adopted a policy of accepting anyone Calla did. Certainly the group of men who had just left were proof of Windstorms theory because Calla clearly did not like them, whereas the three still remaining were most polite and friendly; although one of them did seem familiar.

"It's like a different dragon" Simon declared as he placed his hand on the Nadder's nose horn "Nothing like the beast that threw me to the ground before. I am so glad I had the chance to hear you young people talk about dragons a few days ago, you've really changed my mind about them."

"Well you are a farmer, and they tend to reasonably understanding about an animal's point of view, even the pests" Haley said as she returned "Back in America, we sometimes had to deal with coyotes and although we couldn't let them raid the hen house, we knew they weren't bad, just hungry."

"I see what you mean" Thorston nodded "Not being a farmer myself, I'd never thought of it that way."

"Well if you're ready Haley, we'll be off" Calla said as she climbed up on Windstorm's back.

"I can't believe it... I'm actually going to ride a..."

Haley's words were cut off by the sudden arrival of a tired and frantic Terror, squawking very loudly.

"Daisy... what's wrong?" Calla asked.

The small dragon circled once around the group and then flew a short distance north. She then tuned and hovered while still making a lot of noise.

"I think we'd better follow her" Haley said.

"I think you're right" Calla replied "Azrail, Ginger Nut, let's go!"

Three dragons and two riders followed the little dragon as she led them away, leaving three slightly stunned and worried men behind.

"I hope the boy's alright" Thorston declared.

"Ya... it would be a tragedy to lose someone so young, yet so wise" Olaf agreed, not realising he sounded like a founding member of the Dragon Riders Fan Club (Faroe Islands chapter.)

"Well... there's nothing we can do about it now but pray" Simon nodded "Also I think we should head off into town and lay down the law on those frightened fools; I'll teach them not to listen to rumours."

'

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**Well... here we are again, hanging around the house and trying to keep ourselves amused. So far I have built one shelf unit for my garage and are halfway through a second, trimmed a few trees in the garden, and sorted out all the old nails and wood screws I had sitting in jars; all while avoiding doing the dishes for two and a half days. Hey, I'm a middle aged guy living alone, so letting the dishes pile up is pretty normal. ;D**

**Now that I'm getting so many recommendations about High School f the Dead, I'm getting even more determined to have a look at it. After all, we don't have Adventure Time or Steven Universe anymore, and it's been years since Sword Art Online and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya finished so it's about time I found something new to watch.**

**Sorry to hear about your grandpa Vin, it is always horrid to see a loved one suffer. Hope you get to go back to a normal life soon, then Draco can go back to designing roads, and I can go back to driving on them. **

**Back with more story soon, **_**Marty.**_


	46. Chapter 46

Chapter 46

The claws of the Night Fury dug deep into Blue's skin, even through the layers of clothing he wore. The young man did his best to hold on to the dragon's feet in a desperate attempt to keep himself from being torn apart. The flight was long and difficult but at last the dragons had reached their destination, a small rocky outcrop in the middle of nowhere. The Night Fury leader swooped down to an open fissure on top of the rock and without warning, dropped Blue into the dark hole.

He fell a good five meters before hitting a sandy slope and rolling further down into a pool of water. As quickly as he could, Blue clambered out of the water; a task made quite difficult due to the intense pain he felt in his shoulders. He stood shivering on the side of the pool for a moment as his eyes slowly adjusted to the low light. To his surprise there was a bright glow up ahead from deeper in the cavernous hole, but before he could even try to walk there, the Nightmare came down and landed beside him.

The big red dragon looked at the shivering boy and sighed with regret. Back on the island he had not felt any particular attachment to Blue, so why didn't he just leave him there when the Furys arrived? He could now see his foolish decision to attempt an escape with Blue, may have just condemned the boy to death. The Furys would surely take them both to the Alpha, and he doubted the Alpha would be lenient with either of them. The Nightmare knew he could take the punishment for leaving the safety of the hidden world, putting all the dragons at risk of discovery, but he doubted the boy would survive very long on his own.

The Nightmare set part of his body on fire to warm the shivering boy, but the Furys saw the flames as an attempt to start a fight and then all became very angry. Knowing where they were to be taken, the Nightmare once more put Blue on his back and flew down the tunnel towards the light.

Soon the cavern opened out to reveal thousands upon thousands of glowing, multicoloured plants and crystals. Blue gasped as he came to realise exactly where he was. Hiccup had described this hidden world very well, but it still breathtaking to see it for the first time.

As if the light and colours were not enough, Blue was also blessed with the sight of more dragons than even he could identify. There were Gronckles, Rumblehorns, Stormcutters, Zipplebacks, Triple Strykes, Razorwhips and he even saw a couple of Typhoomerangs. Most of the dragons ignored the Nightmare flying by with a boy on its back, but some of the more curious ones started to follow the Furys and their captives.

They flew deep into the cavern until they came to a large, flat, open area in front of an arched cave. The ground was covered by green moss, with small pools of water and bright wildflowers scattered around the edges. The Furys herded the Nightmare down onto the centre of the mossy ground before landing in a semi-circle behind him. Not sure what to do next, Blue dropped to the ground and stood beside the red dragon. As other dragons gathered to see what would happen, the leader of the Furys let out a loud roar.

All was silent for a moment until the cave started to reverberate. Blue could hear something growling and moving inside. Soon he could also see the dark shadow of a creature swaying from side to side as it walked. Then the head of the dragon appeared in the light, causing Blue's heart to almost leap from his chest. It was another Night Fury, but it was nothing like the others who had taken him, for this was a Titan Wing. At least five times bigger and with blue light shining from the base of its dorsal plates, this dragon was clearly the Alpha of the Hidden World.

"Um... hello" Blue said when the massive beast noticed him.

The Alpha growled at Blue, piercing him to his very core as the air around him vibrated. The intrusion of a human into the world of the dragons was something the Alpha had not been expecting, or even thought possible. When the fissure had first opened it had only been big enough for the smallest dragons to get through, but after another much bigger tremor, the opening had become big enough for much larger dragons to get through.

As soon as the Alpha had discovered two such dragons had gone off to explore a world they had never known, he knew the entire colony of dragons was now at risk and they had to be brought back. Now his greatest fear had been realised and although this boy seemed quite harmless, when there was a young human around, there were adults nearby; adults that may want to turn dragons into trophies.

"Err um... it's nice to be here" Blue tried to sound friendly "Beautiful home you've got... love what you've done with the place."

The Alpha started to circle around Blue and the Nightmare, and much to the massive dragon's annoyance, the Nightmare tried to keep itself between Blue and the Alpha. The huge Night Fury was so big, it took over a minute for the entire dragon to leave the cave but when it finally did, Blue noticed something very unexpected and very important; the left side of its tail fin was missing.

"Toothless?" Blue gasped.

The Alpha dragon suddenly stopped moving and held its breath; had he really heard what he thought he'd heard?

"Toothless... is it... is it really you?"

Now the Alpha was sure of what he'd heard; but how could t be? He had not heard that name spoken for over one thousand years, and he certainly never expected to hear it again.

"I can't believe it's you Toothless" Blue declared with joy "I'm a descendant of Hiccup and Astrid."

There they were; two more names the Night Fury never expected to hear again. Hiccup and Astrid, the dragons rider and his mate; surely they both must be long dead by now. Toothless dropped his head at the thought. Deep down inside he knew they could not still be alive, but he had long avoided even thinking about it; about them.

"My name is Blue... actually its Henry but everyone calls me Blue."

Toothless looked around at the young man. He looked nothing like Hiccup, but he certainly reminded the dragon of his dear friend. There was the kindness in his voice, as well as eagerness and adventure in his soul. And who else but a Haddock descendant could find and befriend a dragon so quickly? Toothless pushed his nose close to the young man and took in his aroma; salt water, Monstrous Nightmare and fish.

Blue reached out and touched the giant dragon's nose. He wasn't at all sure if dragons could cry, but it certainly looked like Toothless was holding back the tears. The Night Furys next exhale clearly sounded like a long and mournful sigh and it almost broke Blue's heart. He was beginning to think he should not be there, bringing so much pain to such a great dragon.

"I'm sorry Toothless... I only wanted to help."

Help; there was another word Toothless knew very well. How many times had he and Hiccup responded to that cry? How many people would have perished without their help, and how many dragons had benefited from the Dragon Riders and their willingness to help in return? The simple answer was there were far too many to count. Not only that, but how many times had Toothless needed to respond to a call for help from Hiccup himself?

More than a thousand years had gone by. Toothless no longer knew the land above, but this young man did. Maybe the time had come for the dragons to become part of the outside world once again, but how could he be sure? One thing was certain, Toothless did not want to lead the dragons out if they would be in danger, so what could he do.

While all the surrounding dragons watched, Toothless lay down on the ground and closed his eyes. Blue could see the Alpha was deep in thought and needed his support, so he sat down beside Toothless and placed his hand gently on the side of the giant dragon's head, while the Nightmare stayed close by and watched over them both.

Not far behind the many dragons surrounding their Alpha, Firefly lay flat on a high rock, watching the proceedings. He knew Toothless would be upset about so many dragons sneaking out of their home to explore the outside world, but meeting this young man had certainly changed the equation. The singular Terror had originally planned to wait until the current crisis had passed, so he and Blue could attempt an escape much later on, but now he had a new idea.

As quietly as he could, Firefly slithered away from what was essentially the Court of the Alpha, and made his way back to the surface opening. Upon arriving, he looked around at the grey overcast day, and soon managed to get his bearings straight. The Terror then took off and flew to the south, constantly moving his head from side to side, searching the horizon for his much hoped for reinforcements. He soon saw how successful Daisy had been in her mission, when he saw three more Terrors escorting a Nadder with two riders.

"Did you just hear something?" Haley asked Calla.

"Yes; over there" she replied pointing ahead and slightly to the right.

"It's Firefly! Why do you think the Nightmare you found would bring Blue out here?"

"I honestly don't know" Calla shook her head "But Blue once said that according to the writings of Fishlegs, before a dragon really bonds with a rider, it can sometimes see a human like kind of pet."

"Hmm... so you think the Nightmare just decided that Blue belonged to him now, and took him?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Calla shrugged.

As soon as he was sure they had seen him, Firefly turned back to the rocky outcrop ne had just come from. As they flew in close, Windstorm started to recoil, unsure if they should go inside. But Firefly circled around the entrance calling out so excitedly, that the other Terrors followed him straight in.

"Come on Windstorm, we've got to follow them" Calla begged her dragon.

Still unsure but realising the urgency, Windstorm steadied herself and dove in behind the Terrors. Needless to say, Calla and Haley were just as stunned as Blue had been upon seeing the world of the dragons for the first time. The lights, the colours and the sheer number of dragons fairly blew their minds.

"Is it safe for us to be here?" Haley asked nervously.

"Probably not" Calla said honestly.

The dragons flew on with Firefly leading the way, although Windstorm knew exactly where they were going.

"Oh wow... look at that" Calla gasped.

Even in her wildest dreams, Calla could not have imagined she would find Blue and the Nightmare sitting with an absolute giant, in the centre of a large circle of dragons. Without being guided, Windstorm slowed her flight and touched down only a short distance from Blue and the massive black dragon. Upon seeing them land, Toothless rapidly raised his head in surprise, sending Blue rolling away.

"BLUE; ARE YOU OKAY?" Calla cried out as she dropped to the ground and ran to him.

Toothless watched with interest as Blue stood up and took this girl into his arms. She reminded the old dragon of Astrid, even though she was shorter, had darker brown hair, and scaring on one side of her head. Maybe it was the Nadder she flew in on, and maybe it was because of her obvious regard for Blue.

Unlike the Nightmare, who had been brought in as a captive, the Nadder had come willingly and approached the Alpha with reverence, bowing her head low.

"What happened; why did you suddenly come here?" Calla sounded like a concerned parent.

"We didn't really have much choice" Blue shrugged "You hadn't been gone very long when four Furys showed up and rather insisted the Nightmare and I return with them. I don't think the dragons are supposed to be outside of the Hidden World."

"So this is the mysterious Hidden World of the Dragons" Calla gasped "but why are you wet?"

"Yeah well... let's just say I've had quite a hard time avoiding water" Blue shrugged.

"Oh... so... if the dragons were not supposed to leave here, does that mean we're trapped... underground... AGAIN?"

"I'm not sure Sweetie; things did not look good when we first arrived, but then I recognised this dragon."

Taking Calla's hand, Blue led her around to the front of the giant black dragon.

"Calla, meet Toothless" he smiled.

Calla looked at the Night Fury and then to Blue. Then just for the sake of doing something different, she looked at Blue and then back to the Night Fury.

"Toothless?"

"Yes."

"Hiccup's dragon!"

"Yes."

"Nooooo" she shook her head.

"Yes" Blue nodded.

"But... but..."

"Yes I know; he's over a thousand years old."

"But he's HUGE!"

"He's a Titan Wing now" Blue explained.

"WHAT THE HELL IS A TITAN WING?" Calla threw up her arms.

Blue did not reply, he simply gestured to Toothless.

"Oh I hate you sometimes!" Calla fumed.

"No you don't" Blue smirked.

'

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'

**Okay, it's official; I am a wus!**

**I tried to watch High School of the Dead and didn't make it much past the opening credits (so much blood). I knew it would be about zombies but for some reason I expected something a bit lighter in tone. I then thought I'd try My Hero Academia but could not find a watchable copy on YouTube, so I ended up watching the first episode of something called CyberSix. Not bad so I'll give it a few more episodes to see if it gets good.**

**Yes Vin I did watch a low res copy of Snoggletog Log last Christmas, but was not happy when Dylan ended up on Gobber's mutton stew; so I left a lamenting cry in the comment section. Based on the life span of a spider, I figure it would have been Dylan the Thirteenth, which would also account for his bad luck (I must remember to include this in a future Snoggletog story).**

**I knew Toothless would still be alive for this story back when I was still writing Red Sky Rising, and it has been so hard to keep it to myself for so long.**

**More story soon, your friend in isolation, **_**Marty.**_


	47. Chapter 47

Chapter 47

Calla looked at the giant dragon in front of her and tried to process what she had just been told.

"So he's a Titan Wing dragon... because he's lived for so long?"

"Kind of" Blue shrugged "I think there are other ways, like when a dragon grows much stronger than what would be considered normal."

"But with a dragon, what's normal?" Calla asked.

"I don't know" Blue shrugged.

"You don't know?" Calla blurted out, her anger growing "Then how am I supposed to know if Windstorm is going to grow to be as big as Toothless some day?"

"Oh I'm pretty sure that'll never happen" Blue waved off the suggestion.

"Are you saying my dragon is too weak to become a Titan Wing" she snarled with her hands on her hips.

"No of course not; it's just so rare..."

Calla suddenly realised Blue was looking like a small frightened animal, facing a much bigger predator.

"What am I doing?" she asked herself "Sorry Blue it's just that... ever since Daisy came to fetch us, I thought something really bad had happened to you and... I guess I'm just overstressed."

"You're stuck in another underground cavern, surrounded by wild dragons; I think you have a right to be stressed."

As he spoke, Blue opened his arms and embraced the nervous girl. Unfortunately being held did not make her feel any better; because now that she wasn't being angry anymore, she was able to think about their current predicament. It was extremely unexpected and unpredictable, but she was sick of the unexpected and tired of the unpredictable. And as if things weren't bad enough, her latest unexpected experience came in the form of a massive Night Fury chuckling at her.

"What are you laughing at, you salamander on steroids?" she mumbled.

What Calla could not know, was how much joy she had brought to Toothless. Watching her snap at Blue while he desperately tried to defend himself, followed by a very rapid reconciliation, reminded him so much of past friends he had loved so dearly. Toothless looked at the Nadder who had brought the girl and then to the Nightmare. It was then he noticed the other girl who had been keeping out of the way. The first thing that stood out about her was how she was now comforting the Nightmare, petting him and speaking softly. The second thing Toothless noticed was her leg; so different to Hiccups, and yet so similar.

For the first time in over a thousand years, Toothless began to look back on his early life. The war with the humans, living as a slave of the Red Death, being spared by a boy when death was staring him in the face, and eventually having to leave that boy who had become his greatest friend and ally. Those days with Hiccup, Astrid and the rest of the dragon riders had been some of the best of his life. There may have been danger, but there was also much more.

Having to give up that life had been a necessary change, but it still had its own risks and downsides. Maybe the time had come to make another change, despite the new risks that such a change may bring.

"RROOOWL" the dragon called to get everyones attention.

Then with all eyes on him, Toothless looked around the circle of dragons and picked one of them out.

"Arrumph" he flicked his head back, signalling the dragon to come forward.

As his subject did as was requested, the Alpha continued to scan the surrounding dragons.

"Hurruf" he repeated the action when he had found a second mandatory volunteer.

The same order was soon given to a third dragon and when they had all assembled, Toothless nudged Blue in the back, pushing him towards the dragon sitting front and centre; a young, strong Night Fury.

"What um... is going on?" Calla asked.

"Just look at the dragons Toothless had chosen" Blue beamed "A Nadder, a Nightmare, a Gronkle, a Zippleback and... a Night Fury."

"But what does that mean? Calla said, confused.

"Yeah... what she said" Haley agreed.

"Well I'd guess it means... Toothless is getting the band back together."

'

* * *

'

After giving Haley a few pointers on how to ride solo, Blue spent some time getting to know his new team while Toothless watched on. The young Night Fury was quite playful, and seemed to be very pleased to have been chosen to join these new creatures. Unlike the stoic Nightmare and the inquisitive Nadder, the Fury was more excitable and eager. In stark contrast, the Gronkle and Zippleback both seemed more than just a little confused.

Indeed when Blue had first attempted to say hello to the Gronckle, the bulbous dragon had growled and snapped. He soon regretted his choice of action though when his Alpha snarled at the unfortunate Gronckle in a very threatening way. As a result he gave the young man a chance, figuring a weak human was a lot safer than a Titan Wing Night Fury, who could melt a mountain with just a badly aimed sneeze. In the end, the Gronckle discovered how delightful it was to have his lower jaw scratched and decided humans made great pets after all.

Becoming acquainted with the Zippleback though, had turned out to be a particularly disturbing experience for Blue. With his Fury and the Gronckle following close behind, Blue approached the two headed dragon cautiously, slightly unnerved by its size. In most cases, he would simply meet the dragon slowly from the front so as not to appear deceptive, but this Zippleback preferred to make that method completely impossible by craning each neck in the opposite direction until Blue was close enough, and then literally circling around behind him.

Before Blue knew what was happening, each head was examining him from head to toe. One of them sniffed his hair and then licked the back of his neck, while the other decided to find out what was in each of his pockets.

"Um... Toothless... ya wanna help me out here please?"

Blue was not sure why, but for some unknown reason the Alpha Dragon just sat there with an amused smile on his face.

"Hey, NO!" Blue waggled his finger at the Zippleback when he saw the dragon had his pocketknife "Bad dragon; give it back."

The left head started to growl but stopped as soon as she remembered how angry Toothless had been when the Gronckle had threatened the young human.

"Thank you... good dragon" Blue said sweetly when the stolen knife was dropped into his open hand.

The offending Zippleback head was then given a rewarding chin scratch; an innocent move that caused a jealous spat between the two heads. Fortunately though, Blue had two hands so they could both enjoy some attention.

"A lot of help you were" Blue said to Toothless, with more than just a hint of sarcasm.

Toothless just smiled to himself knowingly. He would have intervened if the Zippleback had gotten too rough, but at the same time the Alpha needed to see how Blue would handle a difficult dragon, and he liked the way the young man was firm, but quick to forgive.

With all introductions made between human and dragon, Blue returned his attention to the very inquisitive young Night Fury, who had been watching everything with great curiosity. As he looked into the eyes of the smiling dragon, Blue began to have an even greater respect for Toothless as a leader. Unlike the four Fury's that had been sent out to bring back any wayward dragons, this one was not as intimidating. This fact led Blue to the conclusion that the three dragons Toothless had chosen, were not just picked because of their species, the Alpha had given Blue a specific Gronckle, a specific Zippleback, and a specific Night Fury.

"Okay my fine dragon... let's talk" Blue said as he sat down and crossed his legs.

The dragon tried to emulate him but soon found the best it could manage was to sit up straight on its hind legs. When they both sat in this position, one of the first things Blue noticed was how big the dragon really was. When they stood side by side, Blue was just a little taller than the Night Fury but now the young dragon was almost twice his height and although they were more than four feet apart, the dragon's long tail still curved around behind the young man.

"You and me, we're gonna be partners, so um... how do you feel about that?"

The dragon turned his head slightly to the left, making him look like a confused puppy trying to understand differential calculus.

"We've got to get to know each other well, and work together as dragon and rider."

"Roulwf" the Night Fury grunted in agreement, even though he did not understand what he was agreeing to.

"But I get the feeling you'd rather play around for a while."

Blue could clearly see the impatient dragon was already getting a little fidgety, and did not really want to sit and talk any longer than necessary, so he instantly did something about it; he ran.

"Bet ya can't catch me" he taunted the dragon.

A broad smile spread over the dragon's face as it took off after Blue, intending to prove him wrong. It did not take Firefly and Daisy very long to join in the game, but the other dragons all seemed content to just sit and watch.

"COME ON DAISY; YOU CAN GET HIM!" Calla called out.

"I thought you'd be betting on your boyfriend" Haley laughed.

"Tell me honestly Haley, is wrong of me to enjoy watching him lose?"

"It's a bit mean, but not wrong; I quite enjoy it too" Haley admitted.

Considering he was just an earth bound human trying to escape from three creatures capable of flight, he did quite well for a few minutes, until a very biased Nightmare slipped the tip of its tail into Blue's path, tripping him over. Needless to say not long after he had hit the ground, the young man found he was unable to move because of the Night Fury and two Terrors piled on top of him.

"Alright... you win... now get off me before you break my ribs" Blue gasped.

He got to his feet as soon as the dragons let him, and jokingly gave the Nightmare a piece of his mind.

"I saw what you did" Blue pointed to the innocent looking dragon "and if you ever want to taste my barbecued tuna again, I suggest you play nice in the future."

The Nightmare just stared at Blue with a "Who, me? I didn't do nuthin" look on his face.

"Well done guys" Blue smiled at the victors and petted the Night Fury.

He started to limp back to the Alpha, but Haley quickly caught his attention.

"Hey Blue, does this guy have a name yet?" she asked about the Nightmare.

"No, why; do you have any ideas?" Blue answered.

"Boris" Haley grinned.

"Boris?" Blue half gasped.

"Yeah..." Haley hugged the dragon's face "You gotta admit it, he looks like a Boris."

It was a logic Blue found hard to dispute, so leaving Haley with the newly named Nightmare, Blue took the few remaining steps back to where Calla stood with Toothless and laid down on the soft moss.

"Oh Toothless, what have you done to me?" he sighed.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Calla said bluntly.

"I had a plan Calla... it may not have been a great plan, but it was all I had."

"Why don't you tell me about this not-so-great plan of yours?" the young girl said as she lay beside him with her head on his chest.

"Well... not meaning to brag, but apart from DeGroot, I'm the world's only dragon expert. So I figured that rather than take on the training of each dragon we encountered myself, it would be better to help train riders and dragons at the same time."

"So that was why you gave Windstorm to me?" Calla realised.

"Pretty much yeah."

"And also why you sent me to get Haley when we found the Nightmare?"

"His name is Boris now... and yeah. But look at us now; a team of five dragons with only three riders. And what's more, I have to get this right first time because the great and powerful Alpha is watching me" Blue gesticulated to the giant Night Fury.

"I think you're over reacting" Calla said plainly.

"Am I? Come on Calla, you should know better than anyone; I'm not really a dragon expert, I'm a novice, a beginner... a fraud."

Calla took a deep breath and thought about the truth behind Blues words.

"Yeah maybe, but for a novice, you've been doing a pretty good job so far, which means you're definitely no fraud. Also you're not alone anymore; I've had a few days with Windstorm, and Haley is putting her experience with Terrors to good use with Boris."

"Yeah... she really does seem to like him" Blue nodded.

"To tell the truth, I kinda told her about you giving Windstorm to me, and I may have suggested that she might be getting the Nightmare."

"Was I that obvious?" Blue smiled.

"You can hide nothing from me" Calla said with a little bit of menace in her voice.

While Blue tried his best to work out the best way forward with his new team of dragons, some of the nearby crowd crept closer to get a better look at these new human creatures. They stared, they sniffed and a few of the braver ones even reached out a claw to touch; all the while being sure not to upset their Alpha. As all this went on, a new idea started to form in Blue's mind.

"I just realised something."

He suddenly sat up, causing some of the more timid dragons to scatter.

"See; I knew you'd think of the answer" Calla smiled reassuringly.

"Well I don't know if it's the answer as such, but it's a start" Blue revealed "There are thousands, maybe millions of dragons here, and I doubt Toothless can keep them from finding their way to the surface forever; the way we came in may not even be the only entrance. So we really need to take the dragons to as many places as we can, to show people they don't need to be scared of them, but to treat them just like any other wild creature; give them space, leave them alone..."

"And give 'em a roast chicken if they want to make friends" Calla added.

"Exactly!" Blue nodded "I should have realise I couldn't teach everyone about dragons, but if we can introduce them and let the word spread naturally, then maybe we can avoid another dragon war."

"Ah... yeah... about that, we almost had a dragon war back at Simon's place" Calla admitted "It seems that some of the locals are even blaming us for bringing Windstorm and Boris to the Faroe Islands in the first place."

"Well then, that sounds like a good place to start" Blue stood up and offered Calla his hand.

"So we're going back?"

"Are you ready to face the angry men of the Faroe Islands?"

Blue smiled when Calla gave her simple reply.

"The real question is, are they ready for us?"

'

* * *

'

**So good to hear from so many this week :D**

**Happy to hear you still have work Draco, it is nice to have some consistency at this time. Funny thing though, I had to take my bus back to the depot today because with so little work about, the company I work for is cancelling the registration of most of the busses to save money (a wise move I'd say).**

**As to your question Vin, the lifespan of a dragon really depends on what author you are reading at the time. Some books have had dragons that are a few centuries old, but Smaug from The Hobbit was merely 171 years old. In contrast, the character Kanna from Miss Koboyashi's Dragon Maid was said to be a child because she was only 7000 years old (only?), and in some books dragons are simply immortal (unless they are stabbed in the soft underbelly by a short sword wielded by a small man with big hairy feet). I think the dragons in HTTYD live only a few hundred years but I'm assuming a Titan Wing Alpha could outlast the sun.**

**Good to hear from you again Guest (I assume you are the one from Florida and I like to pretend you are Lance Guest from The Last Starfighter... or did I say that before?) You could say the "I hate you"/"No you don't" line was a Doctor Who reference (I love those scenes with Matt and Alex the most; especially when Matt referred to Alex as Mrs Robinson), but I have seen it used many time in the past. In an odd coincidence, I saw it earlier today in a Steven Universe fan comic.**

**As usual, more story soon, **_**Marty.**_


	48. Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Three young humans and nine dragons; they certainly looked like an odd sight as they stood together on the rim of the entrance to the hidden world of the dragons. It had not been easy to say goodbye to Toothless, but they all knew there was far too much that needed to be done in only a short amount of time. Of the three dragons that were experiencing the open sky for the first time, Blue's Night Fury was by far the most impressed. He looked so cute as his head spun around, searching the horizon for any sign of the end that wasn't there.

"Well I guess we'd better mount up and get going; the Terrors are already on their way" Haley noted.

"You okay with Boris?" Blue asked.

"Don't you worry about us, we'll be fine" Haley nodded "You just do your best to keep that Night Fury under control."

Blue knew she was right, even though he did not want to admit it.

"Okay Bud, just like we did in the cavern" Blue reassured the Night Fury.

Even though Boris and Windstorm had already spent a few months on the surface, this time it felt different for them. This time they didn't sneak out of their former home, and this time they were not alone. Their Alpha had made it clear to them that he trusted these humans, and it was important for the five larger dragons to learn how to work with them. The Night Fury though was still too excited to think of work, because right now all he wanted to do was fly like he'd never flown before. The journey started well enough, with the five large dragons taking to the sky in quick succession, but they did not stay together very long at all.

"Hey where are you going?" Calla asked when Blue suddenly gained a considerable amount of altitude.

"Umm... up I'd say" Blue answered.

And up he went indeed. While the others continued on a straight course back to the Faroe Islands, Blue and the Night Fury flew up to the clouds.

"Keep going Haley" Calla called out "I'm going to see if I can catch our wayward leader."

She urged Windstorm to fly higher, but the Night Fury was already partially obscured by clouds. By the time Calla had approached the first foggy wisps, she had lost sight of the black dragon altogether. She started to shiver as they passed through the low cloud and could not help but wonder how her dragon was feeling. But as she looked down at the Nadder, she saw nothing on Windstorm's face except a look of determination; it was as if she too wanted to push herself, and discover her limits for the first time.

When Calla and Windstorm finally lifted above the cloud layer, they heard a strange sound coming from higher above them. It was a high pitch whine, almost a scream and as it grew louder, Calla looked up to see the Night Fury, wings pulled into a small arc, diving almost vertically in front of her.

"HI CALLA" Blue called out as they shot by.

The dragon soon burst out of the bottom of the cloud layer and continued to gain velocity at an alarming rate.

"Come on speedy, I think you've pushed yourself enough for your first open air flight" Blue insisted.

The Night Fury did not want to lose this feeling of exhilaration, but even he could see the ocean getting closer. So he raised his tail ever so slightly and dipped the trailing edge of his wings, slowing his progress and lifting him gradually out of their dive. But the Night Fury certainly did not want to lose this wonderful momentum and so he pulled back and shot up again towards the open sky. He and Blue soon reached the cloud layer again, just as Calla and Windstorm came into view after exiting the mist.

"Whoa, that is one fast dragon" Calla gasped when the Night Fury pulled alongside.

"Yeah... I think I'll call him Speedy" Blue grinned while petting the dragon's neck.

"Definitely suits him" Calla nodded "but are you sure you don't want to give a cool name like Ninja... or Fire Blade?"

"I like Speedy; and I think it's pretty cool" Blue disagreed.

"Yeah but... you like broccoli" Calla grinned as she guided her dragon back down.

Blue thought about what she had said for a moment.

"What's wrong with liking broccoli?" he asked Speedy before following her down.

'

* * *

'

The small group of humans and dragons first returned to Windstorm's cave to pack up their camping gear before continuing on. As they packed, Calla suddenly stopped and just stared at the others for a moment. Blue didn't notice until he swung his pack onto his back, and saw her standing perfectly still.

"You okay Calla?" he asked.

She took a sharp breath as her mind instantly snapped back into the real world.

"Oh... Blue... I was just thinking... look at us; we're the new Dragon Riders!"

"The reality of it just hit you, did it?" Blue smiled.

"Yeah... and it feels weird" Calla slowly shook her head "Is this what you were feeling back in the dragon's world when we were lying on the ground with Toothless?"

"What are you feeling exactly?" Blue asked.

"Pressure... uncertainty... I'm not sure we can do it."

"That's exactly what I was feeling" Blue nodded "and it may not be easy to start with, but I'm sure it'll get better over time as we gain experience. If we can get more people behind us, we'll be much better off too."

"Yeah that's true... maybe we should head back to Berk and introduce our new dragons to the One and All crew. I'm looking forward to seeing DeGroot pass out again" Calla smiled.

"I'm sure we'll get back to Berk eventually, but for now I've got other plans."

'

* * *

'

The new Dragon Riders soon put the first part of Blues plan into effect by flying back to the farm of Simon Lisberg, where their arrival caused quite a stir.

"Oh just look at them Olaf, so many different dragons" Thorston said, almost dancing on the spot.

"My goodness, we thought you said there was only one other dragon here" Olaf said to the Dragon Riders.

"Yeah well, we found a few hundred thousand more" Calla shrugged.

"A few hundred thousand?" Simon repeated as he struggled with his front steps "Where are we going to put them all?"

"Hopefully you shouldn't see any more in the short term, but they'll come eventually so it's extremely important that we pass on some dragon knowledge quickly before we move on. How long will it take to get some of the locals back here?" Blue asked urgently.

"Let me see" Thorston wondered "It's a bit too late to get them here today, but I could send word and tell them to come first thing in the morning."

"Maybe we should go to them" Haley suggested "They weren't very happy about the dragons before, but if we can somehow show them that dragons won't burn your houses down if you know how to handle them, perhaps they'll be more open to the idea of not starting a fight."

"Good idea" Blue agreed "we'll go straight after breakfast and then we'll have to leave."

"Already? But you just got here" Thorston's face fell.

"Sorry but we've got a lot to do and many miles to travel" Blue shrugged "But first we've got to get word to our friends back on the Striker, and tell them what we're planning to do."

"How you going to do that?" Olaf wondered.

"Don't worry, we've got communications equipment on the yacht" Calla nodded.

"Oh... um... about that, Olaf and me went down to Sund to check on your yacht while you were gone. There are a lot of people on this island who's main desire is to be anywhere but here, and one of them must have... stolen it" Thorston admitted.

"Don't worry" Calla laughed "It's still there, you just couldn't see it. Hey Blue, do you think we could take these guys on a little dragon ride."

"We can try... if they're game" Blue agreed.

They were indeed all willing to take this opportunity of a lifetime, even though it took a good half hour to get the men familiar with the dragons, and to get some of the dragons used to having humans on their backs. Working with the Zippleback was simply a case of taking the time needed to show the dragon what they wanted and what to expect, and the results of this training worked out very well for Olaf and Thorston. They did not sit high on the dragon's necks as the twins would many centuries ago, but back at the shoulders of the Zippleback.

The real trouble came when Blue and Haley made a valiant attempt to convince the Gronkle to let Simon ride on its back. Time and again the stubborn dragon simply refused to cooperate, eventually to the point where Simon offered to stay behind.

"Here's an idea" Calla said "Why don't we put Simon on Windstorm, and I'll have a try with the Gronkle?"

"Well you have had more experience with dragons, so yeah; let's try it" Blue agreed.

Simon felt a little weird getting on the same creature that had injured him a few days ago, but there was no doubt Windstorm really was a completely different dragon now. Unfortunately though, the Gronckle was still causing nothing but trouble for Calla and Blue. No matter how much they tried to calm the irritable dragon and win him over, he just continued to be cranky and distant.

"Maybe I could go with you on Speedy" Calla suggested.

"I suppose... but I really don't want to give up this quickly" Blue shook his head "Toothless trusted us with these dragons and I certainly don't want to let him down."

"An admirable thought, but how long is this stubborn little guy going to keep us waiting?" Haley wondered.

"Come on Blue, you've read a lot about dragons; what did you find out about Gronckles" Calla said encouragingly.

A look of realisation slowly crept over the young man's face, along with a healthy dose of excitement.

"That's it" he declared before kissing her "Calla; I love you."

"Yes... I know" she smirked as Blue ran off.

Seeing a feeding bucket hanging near the henhouse, Blue rushed over and threw the grain inside to a small group of very thankful chickens. He then disappeared out of sight for a short time when he was obscured by Simon's barn. When he returned, Blue was carrying the bucket close to his chest, obviously struggling under the weight.

"What have you got there" Simon asked as he looked down from Windstorm's back.

"Something that should bring joy and contentment to any healthy Gronckle" Blue smiled.

As he walked up, Calla looked inside, looked confused and looked doubtful.

"Rocks?" she shook her head.

"Yup, a few sedimentary with a generous helping of basalt; he should love this" Blue winked.

Much to everyones surprise, the short stocky dragon did indeed love what he was given. Blue held a fist sized piece of basalt in front of the Gronckles nostrils, and the change in it demeanour was instantaneous. The dragon started to pant and shake it tail, as its mouth opened with its tongue hanging out the right side.

"I can't believe it... they actually eat rocks" Thorston stared, wide eyed at the sight.

"Gronckles don't really eat the rocks, but they need them to stay healthy" Blue explained "Many dragon produce a flammable liquid, gel or gas to create their fire attacks, but the Gronckle has a speciality; it can combine the heat in its fire glands with the crushed rock to create molten lava. Not having enough rock for a Gronckle could be compared to us not having enough internal bacteria."

"Well he certainly looks happier now" Calla smiled as she scratched the dragon's rough hide.

"Wanna try getting on him again?"

"I'm not ready to give up just yet" Calla said with determination.

"Good girl" Blue nodded and then looked down to the dragon.

"Come on... you've seen us riding the other dragons, I promise it won't hurt" he tried to be encouraging.

Blue need not have worried because now that he was feeling better, he was actually looking forward to serving his Alpha by partnering with these humans. Calla could still see there was a definite stubborn streak to this dragon, but she was sure he would soon become one of the team.

"Right then..." Blue called out as he got up on Speedy's back "it's only a short hop down the hill to Sund, so let's get going."

All three of the first time riders cried out in surprise as the dragons lifted off the ground and quickly gained height. It is said that once you learn to ride a bicycle, you never really forget how it's done; but even after a thousand years, no words have ever been able to describe the combination of exhilaration and terror a person experiences the very first time they ride a dragon.

'

* * *

'

**Maybe I should point out at this stage that these three islanders do not end up as the next batch of Dragon Riders, but I thought it would be fun to let them have a short flight.**

**Still no sign of work in the future so in order to get some exercise while I'm stuck at home, I've returned to something I have not done for many years...ballet. I'm not much of a dancer but the warm up and stretching exercises help after spending so much time indoors.**

**So I'll leave you now with that frightening mental image and say once again more story in a few days :D **_**Marty.**_


	49. Chapter 49

Chapter 49

It was not so much a flight down to Sund, as it was a glide down. It had taken the trio from the Star Runner over an hour to climb the steep hill, but it only took a minute to get back down again. It was nothing compared to their trip to and from the World of the Dragons, but it was more than enough for the three residences of the Faroe Island.

"Oh my goodness... I don't know how you do it" a very unsteady Olaf panted, still holding the Zippleback's neck even though they were on the ground.

"You've got to admit though, it's an experience you'll not forget for the rest of your days" Thorston laughed.

"Riding a dragon is something you can brag about forever too" Blue added.

While the others dismounted and petted the dragons in thanks for their help, Thorston looked out in the harbour.

"See, I told you, someone must have stolen your boat to get off the island" he noted.

"It's a yacht, and it's still here; see?" Calla pointed to the tip of the mast swaying in the water.

"Good heavens, there it is... and it sank!" Olaf gasped.

"Oh you're gonna love this" Calla grinned "Grab the rope please Blue."

He did what was asked of him while Calla removed the small remote control from her pocket and pressed the lower green button. A burst of air bubbled to the surface as the ballast tanks were purged of water, and slowly the mast began to rise up. In less than twenty seconds, the top of the cabin broke the surface followed by the main deck, now partially covered by sea grass.

"Eww; looks like she need a bit of maintenance" Calla realised.

"Don't worry, we'll soon have her looking her best again, but first I wanna make contact with Berk and the Striker" Blue said as he pulled the yacht to the dock.

After Calla and Blue had gone below, Olaf decided to get a closer look at this yacht with the full pack of optional extras. He wandered close to the edge of the wharf and peered over the side. In the calm water below, he could just make out the long tube attached to the keel, running the entire length of the hull. He found the sight far too fascinating to ignore, and so he decided to inspect it more closely. He climbed down amidships and followed the path recently taken by his two young friends to the rear hatch leading to the main cabin.

For an ocean going yacht, the inside of the cabin was surprisingly bare but he soon figured out that everything must have been stowed away in the hold below to prevent any damage. In the centre of the yacht Olaf found what he was looking for; a watertight hatch with a ladder leading further down. Curiosity soon got the better of him and he placed his foot on the top rung and started to climb down.

Once down below, he could hear the voices of Calla and Blue as they communicated with their friends over the shortwave radio, so he wandered back towards the stern. The tube was slightly wider than the beam of the yacht and the first aft section was nothing more than a narrow passage with stowage and bunks but further back, he found a battery bank and an electric motor with a shaft connected to a watertight bearing.

"Oh... it has auxiliary propulsion" he mumbled to himself.

"Hello... is someone back there?" he heard Blue call out.

"I'm sorry, it's me Olaf" he replied "I just wanted to see..."

"It's okay" Blue smiled as he approached "We don't mind you looking around; come up front and see the rest."

"Oh... thank you" Olaf nodded.

Being a thin man, the local resident had no problem with the narrow passage but being tall, he did have to mind his head. Forward of the ladder Olaf was shown two more bunks with storage, followed by the main computer and communications equipment.

"How on earth did you get all this" he gasped.

"Oh this is nothing" Calla said smugly "Blue has friends who can shoot you into space, and his dad has an interplanetary spaceship."

"Now you just pulling my leg" Olaf said sceptically.

"No... she isn't" Blue replied in a manner that said he didn't care if he was believed or not, because he knew it was true and that was enough.

The young Dragon Riders started to climb back p to the Star Runners main cabin, leaving Olaf to wonder if any of what they said could be true.

"Hey wait!" he called out, realising he had been left behind.

"Okay I've got the news" Blue said as he stepped back onto the wharf and the rest of the small group gathered round.

"Captain Debar sends her congratulations on taking care of the dragon problem here, and the Striker will be waiting for us when we get to the Shetlands. We only spoke to the radio operator on the One and All, but he said all is going well on Berk. They're still working on their accommodations while DeGroot and a few of his new students..."

"Students?" Haley interrupted.

"Yeah with all the Terrors, and Smokebreaths close to the town, there has naturally been a lot of interest in becoming a bit more Dragon Savvy" Blue replied "Anyway according to the radio guy, life with the small dragons is going well and they have even take a few trips to get to know the Buffalord herd on the other side if the island."

"Did you tell them when we'd be back?" Haley asked.

"No, quite the opposite; I told them we'd be heading back to Sumatra."

"Sumatra? You're kidding" Haley shook her head.

"Look I know we've still got a lot to do with the dragons, and Berk, and of course we still haven't found Dragon Island, but we really need to go back to the complex first and make sure things are okay. If we're lucky, Sage will be gone before we get there but even if he hasn't, we still need to find out Doctor Spencer's next move, and work out where we fit in to it."

"Yeah like what's happening with that new base we started on asteroid 16 Psyche, and when will they be able to resume the evacuation of the Earth" Calla added.

"Wait... what?" Simon gasped "Evacuation of the Earth?"

"Yes; I actually come from the railgun complex in Western Sumatra that has been supporting the Mars Base One colony for the last twenty years. It has always been our plan to resume flights from Earth as soon as possible, and that time is fast approaching" Blue informed them.

"But we haven't seen any meteors around here for decades; are you sure they are still a problem?" Olaf asked.

"Oh trust me, they are; we had a nasty encounter with one back in Canada recently" Calla insisted.

"But what about the dragons?" Thorston looked forlorn.

"Have you ever heard of an O'Neill Cylinder?" Blue asked.

"No" all three said in unison.

"Okay I'll explain but I'll have to be brief" Blue began "We've started mining out holes in asteroids several kilometres across or more. Inside these tubes we're gonna build cylinders, where they'll be protected from temperature variations and cosmic radiation. Once we can get these cylinders slowly turning, the inner surface will have centrifugal false gravity the same level as Earths and we'll be able to live there."

"And you want to take the dragons to these cylinders in space?" Olaf gasped.

"To be honest I don't know and I doubt it, but I do know there are already plans for introducing some animals once we have a few hundred square kilometres of living space."

"A few hundred... How big are these things?" Thorston gasped.

"Not very big at the moment, but their size is only limited by the size of the asteroid you build them in; and you could put a few inside Dwarf Planets or small moons if you wanted too."

The three men looked at each other in disbelief.

"Just to be clear..." Olaf asked hesitantly "When the young lady said your father has a spaceship..."

"My father is Major Luis Dias, and he's one of the command pilots of the Mars Transfer Vehicle Star Runner II" Blue admitted.

Thorston looked to Simon and asked a very simple question.

"Err... should we believe all this?"

"If this young man told me he had laser heat vision, I'd believe it" Simon replied.

"Just for the record, I don't" Blue smiled.

'

* * *

'

Now there was only one more task for the Dragon Riders before they departed from the Faroe Islands; they still needed to make a bold attempt to show the local people they don't need to drive away the dragons, or at the very least not to be afraid of them.

"So what is this place called?" Blue asked Simon, who was now riding on a very contented Gronckle.

"We'll be headed close to the harbour at Torshavn; it used to be our capital city before the flooding over twenty years ago."

"Tsunami caused by meteorites I assume" Blue responded.

"Ya; a lot of people were killed and many of the survivors moved away to mainland Europe, so it's more of a big, half wrecked town now."

Simon took them to the harbour area because he knew that would be the best place to find people, waiting for the return of the vessels that had evacuated their children and elderly. Indeed there was a small group milling around on top of a bluff that overlooked the entrance to the protected harbour. Needless to say there was some more than mild panic when the Dragon Riders arrived, even though they touched down a safe distance away.

"What are you doing here? You told us you were going to take the dragons away, and instead we find you have brought more. I knew you were lying!"

Calla recognised him as one of the men who had marched on Simon's farm, and he did not look very pleased to see them.

"They are leaving" Simon got down from the Gronckle and limped forward "They just needed to talk with you before they go."

"NO! Just tell them to go and not to come back" the angry man was bolstered by the agreeing crowd who all shouted their support for the No Dragons idea.

Blue looked around and could see the reactions of people further down in the town. Some just stared in amazement but others quickly ran away, as it they expected the dragons to attack at any moment. Olaf and Thorston joined Simon in trying to get the crowd to listen but soon the rock throwing began, just as it had at the farm.

"We're not on your property now Lisberg, you've come to our home, and you've got no right to bring those murderous beasts here."

Windstorm did her best to shoot any rocks that came too close, but everyone could see the other dragons were getting quite upset and defensive. Boris was now on fire, so the angry mob kept their distance, and Blue could clearly see some green gas drifting in the breeze. Speedy was clearly the most disturbed by what was happening, because the young Night Fury had never expected the humans could be so cruel.

"Come on; everyone to your dragons, we're getting out of here" Blue ordered the riders.

Emboldened by the retreat, the crowd marched forward while still hurling rocks but Boris knew what to do. The angry mob soon did some retreating of their own when a huge fireball exploded on the ground a few meters in front of them, showering the men with clods of grass and dirt. As they flew off towards Simon's farm once more, Blue even noticed some of the people who had run away were now returning to the streets carrying firearms.

"Looks like you made the right call" Haley remarked.

"I... I'm sorry guys..." Blue begged "I never even thought..."

"Don't you worry about it lad" Thorston's voice boomed out "You can't be blamed for what happened down there."

"But maybe if we'd gone in without the dragons, we would have had the chance to..."

"No; it's not your fault, its them and their pig headed stubbornness" Thorston insisted, clearly upset.

"So what do we do now Blue?" Calla asked.

"We leave, and hope that no more dragons find their way here in the near future."

It did not take long to arrive back at the farm and as soon as they landed, Thorston dropped down from the Zippleback and strode over to Calla.

"My dear lady, I have a great request to ask of you."

"Err... yes?" she replied nervously.

"You and Young Blue mentioned a man named DeGroot, who was teaching people about dragons. Please let us use your yacht to travel to Berk and seek him out. If we can learn more about training dragons as well as you all do, maybe we can be better prepared if more dragons do come in the future."

"Can you sail?" Calla wondered.

"I can't" Thorston admitted "but Olaf has spent much time at sea."

"And I've had a little experience too" Simon noted eagerly "... in small boats... in sheltered waters, but I'm sure I could learn more of open water sailing with Olaf's help."

Everyone looked to Olaf to see if he agreed with the glowing endorsements being given to him.

"You can be sure I would do my very best to take care of your fine vessel" He said.

"Can you operate a computer?" Calla asked.

"A little" Olaf shrugged.

"Oh I've got plenty of experience there" Simon smiled proudly.

"Okay then the first thing you should do is check out the media folder in the laptop next to the radio. The people who built the systems you saw left some instructional videos on how it all works. For example you can't use the stealth system to hide underwater unless the air tanks are no lower than 40% capacity, or you'll never be able to re-float."

"We'll be sure to watch them all" Thorston said.

Calla looked thoughtful for a moment before she turned to Blue.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"It's you boat... I mean yacht, but I do like the idea of them learning more from DeGroot, since we don't have the time to stay here any longer."

"Alright then" Calla reluctantly handed over the remote control to raise the vessel.

"Well if that's all settled, I suggest we get going just in case those fools from town decide to come and see if we're still here" Haley stated.

"Good idea" Blue agreed "If we leave now, we should make the Shetlands before nightfall."

"It'll be good to see Abby again" Calla said as she climbed up on Windstorm.

"Goodbye lad" Simon offered his hand "I may be in the minority on this island, but I certainly are glad you came."

"We're a minority of three" Thorston smiled as he slapped Blue's back just a little too firmly.

Soon that minority of three were watching their new friends fly over the crest of the hill and disappear. One by one, they all sighed as they realised life was going to be much more boring in comparison, now that the Dragon Riders were gone.

"Do you think we'll ever meet with them again?" Thorston wondered.

"Well considering they are on their way to the other side of the world, I'd suggest you don't hold your breath" Simon replied realistically.

'

* * *

'

**Poor Boo Cat :(  
I was making a shelf unit to put above one of my work areas in the garage, when she decided to climb on top of it before the pieces had been screwed together. Needless to say it fell apart sending wood and kitty crashing to the ground. She was okay but it naturally scared the living daylights out of her (and me too of course).**

**Haven't found a new anime to watch yet, so I checked out a few old ones from twenty/thirty years ago; some were mildly entertaining but oh so dated. I did enjoy seeing the first ten episodes of Owl House. I do like a cartoon where you can play the Find the Studio Ghibli Influence game every episode, but how on earth did they get Isabella Rossellini to voice the Bat Queen?**

**Hope you're all enjoying the story, and more soon (naturally) **_**Marty.**_


	50. Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Emerson was glad there were no sheer rock faces for him to climb, but the mountain still posed quite a challenge. After spending far too much time being a good boy and following all orders given by Gran and her underlings, the perfect day had finally come and so Emerson and Doom had put their plan into effect. It wasn't much of a plan, no elaborate set ups or complex timing down to the second, they just waited for a day that was not too cold and had some low cloud, and then they fought.

It was only a simple fight of the type most young married couples have, but it gave Emerson the excuse he needed to storm off into the forest. They both knew he would be in trouble when he eventually came back, but it did not matter because then their main task would be complete, and then the couple could really settle down and wait for the return of their friends.

Emerson had left with only a jacket over light clothing, and he was already feeling the cold by the time he had reached the climbing gear he had hidden a few hundred meters above the small town, in a place he jokingly referred to as Everest Base Camp. Having passed that point a few hours ago, the determined climber was now sporting gloves, a thick skullcap and a heavy insulated coat with a fur lined hood.

After a few hours of climbing, Emerson broke through the last of the low cloud and was able to enjoy the sunlight, even though the air was still cold and thin. No matter what jokes he may wanted to make, this small mountain was definitely no Everest so all he had to do was pace himself and keep going until he reached the top around the middle of the day.

When he did, the object he was looking for could not have been easier to find, even with a flashing neon sign that said "HERE 'TIS", which it didn't have. The information Emerson had been given by Professor Adisa proved to be spot on correct; what he was looking at was indeed a directional communications antenna dish, and not some kind of scanning radar searching for incoming meteorites. It was a little bigger than Emerson had expected, but not too big to stop him from taking the measurements the Professor had requested.

"Right... let's get this done" Emerson said to no one as he looked down on the antenna.

Placing his backpack on the ground, the intrepid investigator removed the special equipment he had been given to complete his task. The first piece he took was a metal disc about three hundred millimetres in diameter. The underside of the disc had three screw adjustable feet and a spirit level so Emerson could set it up straight and true in front of the antenna. Into this base, he then screwed in a long and equally adjustable bar, setting it with the centre hinge on the antennas lower lip. Finally he loosened the screw on the hinge and moved the top section of the bar over until it lightly touched the antennas top edge.

After checking the bubble in the spirit level once more to be sure everything was well in place, Emerson then took an angle reading from the upright bar. Satisfied he had taken the correct number, Emerson removed a small computer from the inside pocket of his coat. In reality it was nothing more than an old mobile phone, but there had not been a cellular mobile phone network operating on Earth for many decades. He opened up a compass app and held the phone to the centre of the antenna, taking a directional reading.

Having entered all these readings into the phone, Emerson decided to take a short break, devour a protein bar, and congratulate himself for a job well done. It would have been nice to have something a little more comfortable than the rocky ground of the mountain top to sit on, but it was still felt good to take a rest before he started the long hike down. As he ate, he looked out over the cloud tops far below him, and then up at the bright blue sky, where a dull half Moon looked down on him.

After about fifteen minutes, he finished off his basic lunch and turned back to the antenna, ready to pack up his measuring equipment. But just as he was about to pick up the bar he had used to measure the angle, he saw a gap at the lower lip of the antenna. Emerson thought about this for a moment; he was sure he had taken a correct reading, but he clearly needed to be sure. And so after loosening the hinge at the center of the bar, he repositioned the instrument until both ends touched the antenna disc once more, and took a new reading.

As he re-entered it into the phone, Emerson saw that the new reading was slightly different, but barely by more than a single degree. Feeling a little unsure of himself, the determined young man then opened the compass app on the phone and re-checked the antennas lateral direction, finding it too was slightly off.

"Okay now this is just weird" Emerson told the antenna.

He wanted to start back down the mountain as soon as he could, but there was no doubt he also needed to investigate this comms disc a little further; so after checking the time, he sat down and contemplated the antenna for a brief period. With nothing else to do, Emerson took out another food bar, this one made of seeds and honey, and started to slowly chew on it as he stared at the antenna dish.

After about five minutes, he could already see the tiniest gap on the bottom lip of the disc and over time it was clearly getting bigger. Now he was sure of it; the disc was definitely moving extremely slowly, but why? Professor Adisa had hypothesized that Gran had been receiving information about incoming meteorites from another ground station somewhere down south of their current location, and although the disc was pointed in the right direction, it should be rock steady to stay aligned with the transmitter at the other end.

After taking a third set of readings along with the time and date, Emerson started to pack up his gear; he had spent long enough on this mountain and it was now time to go. After he had swung the pack onto his back and was about to leave, Emerson suddenly had a thought so he knelt down behind the disc and looked up in the same direction.

"This is getting really weird" remarked as he found he was once more staring at the Moon.

'

* * *

'

While the crew of the Striker were more than pleased to see the Dragon Riders arrive later in the afternoon, the sight of the five new dragons filled a few of them with more than a little concern; which is a nice way of saying a few had to go and change their undies.

"FAR OUT!" Abigail called out as she rushed out of the rear hatch and onto the stern deck.

The dragons all touched down on a large concrete apron on the western side of Scalloway Harbour, where the Striker had been moored and the remains of the rescued fishing boat had been placed. While she had waited for Blue's return, Captain Debar had allowed some of her crew of marine engineers to help out with the rebuild of the boat, because it was so important to the survival and well being of the local people.

"I thought there were only two" Abigail stated.

"Oh we found way more than two" Haley admitted as she dropped down from Boris.

"I take it everything went according to plan" Captain Debar noted as she came ashore.

"Far from it Captain" Blue replied "but before we give you a full report, I think we'd better spend some time introducing everyone to the dragons. If you treat them right, they're wonderful creatures, but we did run into some trouble on the Faroe Islands with a crowd of very angry people, and they're still a bit skittish around strangers as a result."

"Then with your permission, I'll go first to show everyone not to be afraid" Debar nodded.

Blue had Haley keep a close eye on their Zippleback and Gronkle while Calla took Windstorm over to meet the Captain.

"Put your hand here on her neck and stroke down" Calla suggested, noticing that while Debar was putting of a brave face, she was clearly terrified.

"N-nice dragon" she warbled.

"Her name is Windstorm, and you're doing very well" Calla smiled.

After Blue had introduced his sister to Speedy, he helped her to get on the Night Fury's back. Walking around amongst the crew with a young girl sitting on the dragon, made the fearsome creature seem far less threatening. Once Speedy was able to see these people were not like the ones they had left back at the Faroe Islands, his broad smile returned and he started to sniff around and make himself acquainted with everyone. For the next step, Blue left Speedy with Abigail and walked over to the local people keeping their distance at the rear of the dock.

"Hello Mateo" Blue smiled when he saw the familiar man in the group.

"Ah... Blue... it is... very good to see you again."

"I suppose you recognise that guy" Blue pointed to Boris.

"Y-yes I do" Mateo nodded "and you would not believe how fast me heart is now racing."

Blue instantly thought back to when the four Fury's had thrown him into the middle of the ocean.

"Actually I think I might" he shrugged "If you're up to it, maybe you could come and say hi?"

"I am tempted to ask if it is safe... but your young friend..."

"Haley" Blue stated.

"Yes... she has no trouble?"

"To be honest Mateo, there was trouble, but the more we get to know each other..."

"...the more the trouble... it goes" Mateo finished the thought in broken English.

"Exactly" Blue smiled "Come over to your boat, I would like to try something."

The hull of the fishing boat sat in a cradle behind where the Striker was tied up. When Blue and Mateo had walked over, Blue called Haley to bring her dragon.

"Mateo, this is Boris" he introduced the approaching beast.

"H-hello Boris" Mateo gave a small wave.

Most of the other fishermen and local people looked on in awe and wonder, but a few took the same attitude as Blue had seen on the Faroe Islands.

"What are you doing man? That's one of the beasts that attacked us and half wrecked our boat" one of them declared.

"Si Desmond... and I'd rather try this, than get attacked again someday" Mateo responded.

"Don't be daft Mateo, ye wouldn't try and make friends with a shark now would ya?"

"No Desmond I wouldn't, but have you ever seen a group of children riding sharks before?"

"Hey... I'm nineteen" Haley protested.

"I'm almost fifteen and even I don't like being called a child" Calla agreed.

While the two men argued across the apron, Boris sniffed at Mateo before turning his attention to the large boat sitting on the cradle. Looking up over the side rail, the Nightmare could see where he had torn out the built in fish hold from the bow deck, and realised for the first time that he and Windstorm had actually stolen from their riders friends, and done considerable damage o their boat. So as the humans continued to discuss the situation in aggravated tones, he turned to Windstorm and gave a short grunt. The Nadder soon picked up on what was happening and replied in agreement. And then to everyones surprise, both dragons spread their wings and flew away unexpectedly.

"Windstorm... where are you going?" Calla called out in desperation.

"Ah good riddance" Desmond snorted "Now how do we get the other ones to go too?"

Calla was more confused than upset. She simply wondered why her dragon had suddenly left, and would she come back?

"What do we do Blue?" she asked.

"We follow them" Blue answered with determination and ran back to the where the Striker was moored.

"Excuse me Abby, but I need my dragon back" he said but by the time he and Calla had lifted off, they spotted the wayward dragons flying back in.

Much to everyones surprise, Windstorm and Boris had just flown out just south of the harbour and picked up some fish which they brought back and presented to the people of Scalloway. Windstorm had brought back a large fish in each talon, but Boris brought only one. It was however quite an impressive catch; it was a two meter porbeagle shark.

"Oh my goodness" Desmond gasped as he took a step back "W-what do we do with these?"

"I'd suggest you clean them and distribute the fillets in the town" Blue noted.

"After you've said thank you of course" Calla added.

This was not the first time Blue had been surprised by the dragon's intelligence along with their capacity to comprehend, and he was sure it would not be the last.

"I-I don't understand" Mateo shook his head "Do they... understand what they did? Do they remember?"

"It certainly looks that way to me" Haley said as she rewarded Boris with a chin rub.

"You have to remember that the dragons have been living by themselves for over a thousand years" Blue told them all "Until they found their way to the surface, none of these dragons had ever seen a human, or knew about our existence. So when they came across your boat, to them it was just a convenient source of captive fish; they didn't know they were stealing."

"Are you trying to tell me that now they do?" Desmond said doubtfully "Oh come on, an animal is just an animal and doesn't know from stealing."

"Well that's not true in all cases" Calla replied" Some animals can be trained not to take food from the dinner table, and dragons appear to be much smarter than most animals."

"And from what I've seen, they do have a highly organised social structure that could very well include a sense of ownership. I have seen some dragons arguing over food, so it looks like in some ways they are just like us; even Calla's been known to steal food from my plate."

"I was just being playful" the young girl shrugged.

'

* * *

'

**Hello everyone :D**

**Don't worry about Boo and the shelf Vin, both are now fine and ignoring each other. As to anime I have watched and liked, I have seen the first story arc of Yu-Gi-Oh and thoroughly enjoyed it. Didn't think much of it when the main characters were gone though. It wasn't the blood in High School of the Dead that go to me, it was all the horror, screaming and general terror.**

**In the past I have enjoyed such diametrically opposed anime as Princess Tutu and Neon Genesis Evangelion, Full Metal Alchemist to Nichijou, as well as Sword Art Online to K-On (and many others). What really draws me in is something that is surprisingly different like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.**

**As soon as I read the question comment from Guest about how much Debar knew about the total number of dragons, I suddenly realised I didn't know. Now you would think that as the author I would know but I hadn't given it any real thought. Yes I did assume Blue had told her everything but because I didn't write it at the time, I couldn't be sure that he did.**

**If this sounds odd then you may be interested to know, that is how two of my characters have died in past stories. The spy Fotherington and Martian resident Talon Descott both had bright futures in the stories I was writing but I suddenly found I had written them into a place of no return and was left with three choices: 1) Go back, re-write and don't put them in peril, 2) Come up with some ridiculous idea to save them, or 3) Let nature take its course and have them die. For the sake of not letting the story get to predictable, I went for the third option. Professor Adisa was the exception; when I first came up with this elderly mentor, I knew from the beginning of the first book that his death would not be spectacular, but simply the accepted ending of a life well lived.**

**More soon, **_**Marty.**_


	51. Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Even though the Dragon Riders did not manage to convince the entire town of Scalloway to accept the dragons, a few of the fishermen and some of the local residents still found the massive flying creature far too fascinating to ignore. There were even a few children who wanted to pet the dragons but none of the parents would allow them to go anywhere near the beasts. As the sun set and most people headed to their homes, the dragon riders took off to find some fire wood, and were surprised to find trees were almost non-existent outside of the town. There were however a large number of disused power poles lining what remained of the roads, and the dragons had no trouble either tearing them out of the ground, or just blowing the base of the pole into charred splinters.

Back at the dock, they soon found cutting the wood up was quite unnecessary; for when they brought out a chainsaw to start, Windstorm simply picked up one of the poles and bit it in half. The end result was a substantial fire burning on the concrete wharf, with dragons, riders and sailors sitting around it in a circle and enjoying the warmth.

"Are you sleeping out here tonight?" Calla asked as she laid her head on Blue's shoulder.

"Yeah, I don't really want to leave the dragons alone out here and the Striker really isn't big enough for anything but a Terror" he answered.

"Yay, a sleep out" Abigail cheered.

Blue's sister had made herself quite at home with the Zippleback, and had even named the heads Lucy and Ricky. When asked why, she had given two responses; firstly was the two heads regularly arguing, which reminded her of many couples she had seen in old sitcoms. The second reason was by choosing to name them after Lucy and Ricky Ricardo from the I Love Lucy show, Abigail knew she would never get the heads names mixed up because Lucy was the left head, and Ricky was the right.

"We had almost every movie and TV show available on the Mars Media Streaming Service" she explained.

"How long do you think it'll take us to get back to Sumatra?" Haley wondered as she sat and petted her snoring dragon.

"About a week, give or take a day" Blue responded "We could probably do it half the time if we pushed the dragons to fly all day, but I think that would be a big mistake.

"Hmm yes... and speaking personally, I really don't want to ride halfway around the world without regular rest stops" Abigail insisted.

"So you've decided to come?" Calla noted, even though the question was superfluous.

"You bet; I'm looking forward to seeing Mom again, as well as our new little sister."

"Oh yeah... I heard about that" Haley smiled "What was her name again?"

"Rose Talon Dias" Blue replied.

"Talon's a funny middle name" Haley thought.

"It was the name of a young man Mom knew on Mars" Blue answered "He helped her to investigate a double murder."

"Yeah Talon was killed in an explosion that was meant to kill Mom, Saffron and a few more of the people who were on her side over the whole Mars fiasco."

"Wow... you lot have certainly lived dangerous lives" Haley realised.

"That's an odd thing for a dragon riding girl with one missing leg to say" Captain Debar noted as she walked up the gangway to the dock.

"Hello Captain" Blue greeted "Pull up a dragon and take a load off."

"Err, no thanks" she replied politely "I came to tell you I just finished speaking to Captain Branson back on Berk; needless to say they were all very upset to hear about Professor Adisa."

There was a slight pause in the Captain's report as they all remembered their friend and leader.

"On the other hand though, no great disasters on Berk apart from a half hearted attempt by a couple of Smokebreaths to steal a metal toolbox. The Terrors soon saw them off and it did give Reed the opportunity to re-enforce the rules about not leaving any metal exposed or uncovered. Oh and your Grandfather sends his love."

"Hmm yes" Blue mumbled as he still had mixed feeling about the man in question "I assume you told them to be on the lookout for the Star Runner with its new crew?"

"Yes, and of course I informed them we would be departing for Sumatra in the morning."

"Yeah it's weird to think about how sidetracked we were by Gran and the dragons" Calla noted.

"Indeed" Blue agreed "We could have done without Gran and her outpost, but I am glad we found the dragons; I've even changed my mind about DeGroot's decision to effectively steal the One and All."

"Things may have worked out well, but what he did was still mutiny" Debar disagreed.

With her information passed on, Georgette Debar departed for her cabin. As for the others, even though a new journey lay ahead, they all felt a sense of peaceful calm; they were together again at last, and they also had several new fire breathing friends in the group. Blue was glad his sister had joined the Dragon Riders, but he still needed to find someone to partner up with their Gronckle.

'

* * *

'

Over on the other side of the world, the long hours of work were finally starting to bear fruit inside the railgun complex. All throughout the main staging area, a considerable number of engineers and technicians milled around the eighteen cylindrical capsules lined up in front of the large open door to the railgun itself. The loading of the first three was complete but re-checks were still being done, considering the importance of each upcoming launch.

"Alright, let's move onto SC-4" Doctor Spencer instructed one of her section heads.

"Are you sure they'll all be prepared before the ship arrives in orbit?" Carson Rake asked accusingly.

"Not quite, but you can assure Sage that each supply capsule will be ready well before its individual launch time. Don't forget we can only send three during each launch window" Sarah replied.

Just then, one of Sages guards hurried into the vast staging room and ran towards Rake.

"Sir, General Sage said to tell you the MTV has just passed inside lunar orbit, and will be settling into Earth orbit in seventy four hours."

"Hear that Doctor? You only have a little over three days" Rake noted with fake concern.

"We'll be ready in two" Sarah replied confidently, considerably annoying Rake.

'

* * *

'

Just before dawn the next morning, only one person walked the lonely streets of Scalloway. Blue simply could not wait for first light; as he lay on his back, staring at the stars and wondering whether it was Speedy or Calla who had the loudest snore, the very moment the sky turned from black to a very dark grey was the exact time he arose and started to climb the slight rise of the inappropriately named New Road. Looking up a surprising street sign, he stopped and smiled to himself before turning left into Lovers Lane, wondering what Calla would have thought if had brought her with him. A short walk and a right turn into Berry Road and he soon found what he was looking for.

In amongst the many acres of farmland stretching in out in front of him, was a small plot of land set aside for a very special purpose. Near the centre of this fenced off area was a large piece of metal pipe, a meter tall and half a meter in diameter, with simple words engraved on the top half. The words read thus; Professor Linton Adisa – Arguably the most important man of the 21st Century.

"Well I certainly would not dispute that" Blue smiled with a tear in his eye.

For an unknown amount of time, Blue just sat and tried not to cry as he remembered all the things he and the Professor had been through. Although most of the really interesting things had followed Calla's arrival and the re-opening of the Railgun Base, there were still many memories of growing up and learning how to be an assistant engineer, an electronics technician, a rocket scientist and so many other things; taught by many people, but all coordinated by the leader of the complex, Professor Linton Adisa.

Thinking about it now, Blue suddenly realised that even though the Professor had an important job and a lot of work to do over many years, he had still managed to give a disproportionate amount of time to Blue as he grew up, and for that he would be eternally grateful.

"We did it sir" he started talking again as he sat on the cold ground "We found the dragons on the Faroe Islands, but then we found much more; we discovered the home of the dragons. Well... to be honest we didn't find it, I was kidnapped by a bunch of Night Furys... although one of them was really a Light Fury... which is like a Night... Fury... only..."

Realising he had started to babble, Blue stopped speaking, dropped his head and rubbed his forehead.

"I miss you sir..." he sighed "I've had to do so much by myself lately... but I always knew you were out there... somewhere... and when I found you, I knew I would also find help... and wisdom. I know wisdom comes from age and experience, and I've been getting a hell of a lot of experience lately, so I suppose if I want to be just like you, I have grow up... and be to others what you were to me. Does that sound conceited?"

The metal pipe bearing the Professor's name did not answer, but someone else did.

"Of course not' we need you to grow up to be just like him."

"Oh... Calla..." Blue sprang to his feet and spun around.

Even though the morning air was still and silent, Blue had not heard any sound of the young girls approach, and she gave him quite a start.

"I was er... I was just saying goodbye to Professor Adisa" he sniffed.

Calla did not say anything else at first, she simply stepped forward and placed her arm around the boys waist and held him tight, listening to his heartbeat.

"Thank you Professor... I'd say you are the main reason I've now got a great boyfriend" she eventually noted.

They both then said their final goodbyes to the man they both loved and respected, before starting the walk back down to the harbour for a quick pre-flight breakfast.

"About time you two got back" Captain Debar stated upon their arrival "If you want anything from the Striker, grab it now because we set sail in ten minutes... and there's food ready in the galley."

"Thanks Captain" Calla nodded as she and Blue hurried on board.

When they returned a few minutes later, they had as much as they could carry in their sacks, and faces stuffed with food. They also found Abigail and Haley working out the best way to stow equipment on the Zippleback without causing the dragon any discomfort, and they were having great success with a tarp covered blanket tied around the beast's girth.

"You two almost ready to fly" Haley asked.

Before they could answer, another voice called from the rear of the wharf.

"Hello my friends; please don't leave yet" Mateo called out.

Walking beside him was a young girl who looked to be under ten years old, and in his arms, Mateo carried something rather large.

"You have done so much for us, saving our lives, taming the dragons, teaching us what to do if we should see any more, we simply couldn't let you leave without giving you a little sign of our appreciation."

"Well thank you Mateo but we were happy to help, and the information you gave us..."

"Yes yes Mister Blue, but my wife insisted on showing her gratitude for bringing me back to her; and my daughter has something that may help you too."

"Again... thankyou but we can't carry too much because..."

"But this will help you" Mateo interrupted again "From my wife I bring a parcel of food for your journey; and from my daughter..."

Mateo put his bundle down on the ground an unwrapped it. Inside the large blanket, he revealed a leather saddle.

"Back in Spain, my little girl loved to ride but unfortunately she has no horse here. When she saw you fly in from our home, she realised her dressage saddle may also work with a dragon."

Blue and Calla looked at each other and smiled.

"Thank you Miss um... what is your name?" Calla asked.

"Mariana" the girl replied softly.

"Thank you Mariana" Calla smiled.

"I think you may be in luck Calla" Blue said as he examined the saddle "Based on this gap in the underside..."

"The channel sir" Mariana corrected him.

"Channel, thank you; and the spread of the..." Blue looked to Mariana for help.

"Saddle tree sir" the girl said proudly.

"Well I'd guess this saddle would best fit the Nadder or the Gronckle; and since Windstorm is the only one with a rider at the moment, it looks like the saddle is yours."

"Are you sure you want to give up such a beautiful piece of craftsmanship?" Calla asked "Maybe one day you'll get to ride again."

"Maybe one day you will come back and teach me to ride like you?" Mariana asked eagerly.

"No need to wait till then" Calla stood tall with her hands on her hips.

It only took them only ten minutes to fit the saddle to the base of Windstorm's neck, and so Mariana and Calla were soon soaring above the Striker as the ship made its way south passed the island of West Burra. The young girl squealed with delight as the graceful Nadder dove down and swept across the bow of huge sea tug as the Captain blew the ships horn in greeting. Mateo watched nervously as the dragon took his daughter up so high, he found it difficult to see the tiny flying speck. But all too soon the experience came to an end and as soon as Windstorm had landed back on the dock, an overly excited Mariana jumped down and ran to her father.

"Papi quiero un dragón para mi cumpleaños" she said, hopping from one foot to the other.

"What did she say" Blue asked.

"She said you have given my wife and I much trouble" Mateo laughed "My daughter now wants a dragon for her next birthday."

'

* * *

'

**Once again I have to start with, poor Boo Cat.**

**Sometimes I will go for a short walk to the end of the street to stretch my legs and get some fresh air, and occasionally Boo will follow me. A few days ago I did this just before sunrise and after we'd gone past three houses, several birds decided to make a co-ordinated attack on kitty. Two of this murderous flock were Magpies and they can be vicious. **

**She took refuge under a neighbour's car for half an hour and then made a break for home when the birds were gone. The odd thing is Boo will often sit out by the front gate to watch the world go by and the birds all leave her alone; so weird.**

**Back in a few days, **_**Marty.**_


	52. Chapter 52

Chapter 52

With the wind at their backs, the Dragon Riders had hoped to make the Scottish city of Inverness before taking a break, but Blue kept a close eye on all the dragons, especially their Gronckle after the previous flight from the Faroe Islands. From what he had read in the various dragon literatures he had obtained from DeGroot, Gronckles although slower than some dragons, did have incredible stamina. But the determined little guy bringing up the rear of this group did not have much experience with long flights yet, and was clearly in need of a rest.

"Let take a break down there" Blue pointed to a village where three roads came together on the northeast side of the Scottish mainland.

"Let's not land in the middle of town" Haley suggested "We don't want to cause any medical incidents."

"Avoid causing heart attacks; good idea" Blue agreed and he led the way down to a field east of the town.

As soon as they were on the ground, the five lazy little Terrors who had been enjoying a ride on Lucy and Ricky's back, glided down to the grass and started to sniff around to familiarise themselves with the area.

"Don't go too far Rollo" Abigail called out.

Blue walked over where to the remains of a rock wall separated the field and the road, and found a sign lying on the ground. He bent down and turned it over to read the faded letters.

"Latherton" he called out to the others and wandered back.

"Still think we'll make Inverness before noon?" Abigail asked.

"Well that depends on what we find here" Blue noted.

"Are we looking for anything in particular?" Calla asked.

"A pony club" Blue winked.

Calla looked a little confused until the penny dropped.

"You're looking for more saddles" she smiled.

"Saddles, stirrups, reins, horse blankets, anything that may help us" Blue replied "If you and Abby can look after the dragons for a while, I'll take Haley into town and we'll see if there's a post office."

'"Doesn't look like there is much of anything" Calla remarked as she looked down the road at the remains of the small town.

"Still worth a look though" Blue insisted.

"Are you taking Speedy with you?" Calla asked.

Blue looked down and smiled at the Night Fury, rolling on his back and begging for a tummy rub.

"Nah, the big dragons need rest" Blue answered as he gave in to his dragon's display of cuteness.

"Okay but if you're not taking any dragons with you, at least take this" Calla said, holding out her axe.

"I um... think I'll take a couple of small dragons instead" Blue decided "Firefly, Ginger Nut, come on guys!"

The two Terrors started off flying up to Blue and Haley shoulders, but soon took point when they started walking up the road; the little dragons found the idea of exploring a new place far too exciting to resist.

"Why a post office?" Haley asked as they went.

"Post offices usually have the two things I need right now; a phone book and a street directory; the first to find a riding club..."

"And the second to find where it is" Haley realised.

It was only a short walk into the tiny hamlet, and it appeared to be deserted. Most of the buildings had received a considerable amount of damage in the past, probably for one or more rapidly moving walls of water. If it were not for the fact that every building was made from solid stone, there may not have been anything left at all.

"It certainly looks like we don't have to worry about giving anyone a heart attack" Haley said when she realised the place was truly deserted.

"And we don't have to worry about searching the town either" Blue pointed up to the building on the northwest side of the three way intersection.

"Well what do ya know; a post office" Haley grinned.

The stone building was missing most of its south wall and half its roof, so as the explorers made their way inside they began to doubt if their mission would be successful.

"Well here's a phone book... not that it'll do you any good" Haley noted.

The book in question sat soaking in a pool of muddy water, and looked like it may have been there for a long time. The rest of the building appeared to be just as damp, even under the sections that still had the remains of a roof.

"We could always try some of the houses" Haley suggested "If they ever had phones, they would have had phone books."

"Yeah... if we don't have any luck here, but I wanna try and find the storeroom, or storage cupboard. Supplies were usually delivered to places like this covered in shrink wrap plastic" Blue noted.

"Ah, so we still may find some dry phone books" Haley commenced the search.

Just as would be expected, they managed to find the sought after storeroom at the rear of the building. There was standing water in there as well, but there was also some intact shelving on the right corner.

"Oh... here are the phone books but they're loose on the shelves, and pretty much ruined" Blue stated disappointedly.

"Don't panic yet" Haley replied "You were right about the plastic wrapped supplies."

In a fallen metal cabinet, the young lady found three of the parcels they had hoped to find. Pulling out her pocket knife, Haley unfolded it and stared to open the packages.

"Stamps" she said as Blue continued to search his side of the room.

Haley didn't bother with the second pack because it was obviously just small flat pack boxes used for posting parcels. The third one did not have phone books either, but it did contain something useful."

"JACKPOT!"

"What have you got?" Blue asked, not wanting to set his hopes too high.

"Tourist guides" Haley grinned while happily waving a few of the papers.

"Wha?" Blue wondered and then realised "Ah... tourist guides."

After handing one to Blue they both started to unfold the brochures and pour over them. Each one had lists of attractions and advertisements on one side, and a map of Northern Scotland on the other.

"Oh... here's a list of local distilleries" Haley noted with excitement.

"Forget it" Blue responded "After a major disaster, the first three things to be stolen by looters are food, fuel and alcohol. After all these years I'm sure there'd be nothing left."

"Hmm... I guess you're right" Haley sighed "I suppose it's no surprise that nobody ever bothered to loot the tourist brochures."

"I don't know why, they're a wealth of information" Blue replied "and here is exactly what we post apocalyptic tourists are looking for."

After pointing to a section of the map legend that read Equestrian Services, Blue grabbed a few more of the brochures and started to leave. Outside they found the Terrors playing tug-of-war with an old piece of rope they had found.

"Calla will be pleased to hear how well you protected us in this dangerous place" Blue smiled as he shook his head.

At the sound of his voice, the dragons dropped the rope and flew back to their two legged friends for a free shoulder ride back down the road. A few minutes later, Calla waved as she saw them approaching but Speedy gave a much more boisterous greeting. He bounded towards the road, knocking a new gap in the already half destroyed short stone wall, and ran at Blue like an over excited puppy; much like he always did.

"Whoa" Blue gasped as the Night Fury ran around behind the young man and scooped him up.

"Looks like he enjoys having a rider" Haley laughed.

"It certainly looks like he's had enough rest anyway" Blue smiled "And we haven't even been gone half an hour."

He showed Calla and Abigail what they had found as soon as they were back in the field.

"There are a few places north of here but I don't want to recover old ground, so I'd like to head south to where this river meets the sea at the town of Brora. See hear how the river loops down about a kilometre inland, there's a horse riding centre just south of there; should be easy to find and a good place to start."

"Right then, let's be off" Abigail clapped her hands together and returned to her two headed dragon.

They soon lifted off together and resumed their journey, excitedly anxious about what they may find. It only took then another fifteen minutes to cover the distance, but they were not pleased by what they found there. They did manage to find the river, but there was no loop and no old riding centre; even the town of Brora was gone. In its place was a large circular bay roughly two kilometres in diameter.

"Oh my..." Abigail gasped.

"A meteorite crater" Blue added "Based on the regrowth around it, I'd say it happened about twenty years ago... more or less."

On their travels across the world, they had seen destruction of this kind before, but never in a place where there had once been a thriving population. Blue was aware other town and cities had been destroyed in similar ways in the last fifty years, but this was the first time he'd actually seen one up close. If it were not for the maps the Dragon Riders had studied, they would not have even known there was once a town full of people down there.

"Just think about it... they wouldn't have stood a chance" Calla realised "I mean I've experienced several meteorites over the years, but they all landed far away or exploded in the atmosphere."

"Yeah me too" Haley nodded "Makes you think about how quickly the end could come if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Looking down from their dragons, the group was silent for a moment until Abigail could take it no longer.

"Blue... let's get out of here and go to Inverness... I don't like it here" she said with fear in her voice.

"Considering we're not too far from Inverness now, I dare say there wouldn't be anything much left there either" Blue replied.

"Oh" Abigail sighed.

The Dragon Riders turned to fly due south before following the coast down to the Moray Firth. As Blue had expected, the great and historic city of Inverness was every bit as much of a washed out ruin as the towns and villages they had passed on the way. Turning to the southeast for another hour, they flew on passed the mountain of Ben Macdui before coming in to land in a large pine forest clearing very close to the River Dee.

"Unload the dragons and we'll take a break here" Blue said, still with sadness in his voice.

With their burdens removed, the dragons were encouraged to head down to the river to feed while their riders gathered some wood for a fire.

"Hey Blue, you okay?" Calla smiled warmly.

"I was thinking about all the destruction up north we saw" he admitted "I mean... yeah we grew up knowing all about it, and we both saw a lot of it travelling up through North America, but seeing it from the air... seeing it stretched out... mile after mile... whole towns, whole cities..."

"Makes you wonder how we managed to live this long" Calla agreed.

"Makes me realise how lucky I am to have you" Blue smiled "While I was reasonably safe inside the Railgun Complex, you and your family were experiencing everything first hand."

"It would take more than a meteorite bombardment to kill me" Calla stated with confidence.

"I just wish I could work out what to do with the dragons" Blue sighed "I've always known there would be some animals we could take to an Off-Earth settlement, and some we couldn't; but naturally I'd never really thought about dragons before, and I'd like to try and save more than just a few small Terrors."

"But how?" Calla shrugged.

"I don't know" Blue shook hs head.

As they talked about facing the future destruction of the planet, Firefly retuned with a fish in his mouth. Noticing the un-lit camp fire next to Blue and Calla, he placed his lunch on top of it and looked at Blue expectantly.

"Well if you want it cooked, light it up" Blue gestured to the wood pile.

He and Calla had expected the little dragon to send in a fireball but much to their surprise, Firefly pursed his lips and blew a soft jet of flame into the centre of the wood.

"My goodness; you are full of surprises" Blue nodded.

"It's interesting how they like to have their food cooked now that they have tasted it" Calla noted "I mean they could have done it themselves anytime they wanted."

"You have to remember though, the various flammable liquids, gasses and gels that give a dragon it firepower, would also alter the taste of what they wanted to heat. It's like cooking on a wood fire would give your food a completely different flavour, than if you cooked it over a kerosene flame."

"Yeah I suppose" Calla smiled "Presenting Blue Dias; Master Chef to all dragons."

"I don't think I could cook for all of them" Blue shrugged.

As the fish began to change colour, Blue grabbed a stick and turned it over. As he watched it cook, Boris and Speedy returned with several fish of their own, giving one each to their riders.

"I'll clean 'em, and you can cook 'em" Haley offered.

"Deal" Blue agreed as he tossed Firefly his hot steaming lunch.

Calla placed a few more pieces of wood on the fire while Blue whittle a few sticks to place the fish on, when suddenly they heard a scream coming from the forest behind them. Everybody turned to see a young boy running faster than he should have been capable of, while still trying to look back over his shoulder.

"HEY!" Blue called out to warn the boy before he ended up running into Boris.

The boy turned to see who had called, saw the Monstrous Nightmare in front of him, screeched to a halt and screamed again. It certainly did not help the situation when Boris assumed this was some kind of attack and started his usual defence by setting himself alight and roaring in the boys face.

"AAARRGH... DON'T KILL ME!" he begged as he fell backwards.

"Okay... if you insist" Haley said bluntly as she took Boris back to the camp fire and sat down.

'

* * *

'

**Nice warm weather has set in for a few days making my extended home stay quite pleasant. The birds around here have plenty to eat Vin so I think they were just telling Boo that cats aren't welcome as far as they are concerned. I'm just glad they leave her alone when she is in the yard. She's sleeping in her room now and looks very contented.**

**Just heard the news about Tim Brooke-Taylor dying today from covid-19. I was fortunate enough to meet him and Graham Garden several years ago when they toured Australia and my most prized possession is a Goodies T-shirt they both signed. As a joke they wrote Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graham Garden, but not Bill. They were both very kind to me and the small group of fans I was with, and I will never regret spending so much time watching the Goodies over and over again, every evening after school.**

**Thanks again Draco for the encouragement and sorry about causing the tears, **_**Marty.**_


	53. Chapter 53

Chapter 53

"Don't worry about Haley, she just thinks she's being funny" Blue offered the terrified boy a hand up.

"I'm not worried about her, it's the monster" he pointed to the Nightmare.

"Oh you mean Boris? You just scared him, that's all" Blue smiled.

"I... scared him?"

"Well you did run up and scream at him" Abigail noted "I don't think it wise to do that to a dragon."

"Dragon?"

The boy was obviously confused. All his natural instincts told him there was no such thing as a dragon, and yet there was Boris, still smouldering.

"Wh-what about the other monsters... down by the river?"

"More dragons, just different types; like the curious looking one over there is Speedy, he's a Night Fury, and the little one devouring the fish is Firefly the Terrible Terror.

"But... well... who are you people... and why are you friends with dragons?"

"Better to have them as friends, than as enemies" Calla noted.

"My name is Blue Dias, this is my sister Abigail..."

"Call me Abby" Abigail noted.

"...this is Calla Linwood and the one legged funny lady who currently smells like dead fish is Haley Robinson."

"Speaking of dead fish, these are ready to cook" Haley insinuated.

"Look we're sorry we scared you, but we chose this spot because we thought there was no one around" Blue apologised as he put the fish onto the pointed sticks he'd prepared.

"Are you kidding? There are people living all around this forest" the boy insisted.

"Oh... well don't worry about us, we'll be on our way after lunch" Blue noted as he positioned the fish around the edge of the fire.

While she waited for lunch, Haley wandered down to the river to wash up. The boy backed away a little, but still stood in awe of the beasts in front of him; and if having three dragons staring at him wasn't bad enough, four more soon turned up.

"H-h-how many d-dragons you have?" he dared to ask.

"Ten, but five are these little guys" Calla said as Daisy curled up beside her.

"Oh my" the boy sat down again when his legs felt weak.

"What's your name kid?" Abigail asked.

"Aaron... I live up the road with me dad and brother."

"Wanna join us for lunch Aaron?" Calla asked.

"Err... no thanks."

Even though the young boy was too nervous to eat, he was still fascinated at these huge creatures and the people who had no fear of them. For the next half hour, he sat and watched, asking the occasional basic dragon question. As time went on, the rest of the dragons returned and he was told their names and types in turn.

"Well I think it's about time we were moving on" Blue noted after they had finished eating "I'll clean up while you guys get the dragons ready."

As Blue walked off towards the river with an armful of metal plates and cutlery, Aaron followed along still asking questions.

"So why did you come here anyway?"

"We're on our way to Sumatra to meet up with our friends and family" Blue answered.

"Do they all have dragons too?"

"Err... no, and I think they'll be just as surprised to see them as you were. But at least you now know not to be too scared if any other dragons show up in the future."

"So there are more of you Dragon Riders out there?" Aaron gasped.

"No, just us; but there are wild dragons living hidden away" Blue informed the boy "I wouldn't expect them to turn up in the immediate future, but they're bound to come eventually and you should treat them with respect and keep your distance until they want to come close to you. They may get angry, but most of the time they are just being defensive; so don't antagonise them... and sharing your food helps too. Just don't try to fight them because you're sure to lose."

"Don't fight them; got it" Aaron nodded.

"And make sure you tell everyone in the area what I told you" Blue insisted.

"Are you kidding? If I tell anyone I've seen dragons, they'll think I'm daft."

"Oh trust me, they'll believe you" Blue winked.

All the dragons were ready to fly when Blue got back, so he packed the dishes away and got up on Speedy's back.

"Would you like a lift home Aaron?"

"N-no thank you" the boy stepped back with a look of terror on his face.

"Wouldn't you like your brother to see you riding a dragon?" Blue offered.

"Um... no I'm good."

"Okay then, see you later."

The dragons and their riders all followed Speedy when he lifted off, while Aaron looked on in amazement.

"Before we continue south, I've got a little job for you all" Blue told the other riders.

With his adventure now over, Aaron wandered off towards his home. Half an hour later he arrived to find his father and older brother standing between the house and the barn, watching the skies; his father holding a loaded shotgun.

"Hey Dad, what's wrong?" he called out.

The look of relief on his father's face was plain to see as he placed the gun carefully on the ground and ran to the boy.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright; I was so worried" the man said, throwing his arms around Aaron and holding him tight.

"You should have seen it Aaron, there was a dragon here" his brother said excitedly "Dad and I were working in the barn when we heard this roar. We rushed outside and saw this dragon flying overhead. It shot a ball of blue fire into the sky that exploded like fireworks."

"What colour was it Callum?" Aaron asked.

"Huh? It was um black" the confused brother replied.

"Oh that would have been Speedy; did you see the person on his back?"

"Aye son... we did" his father said, clearly confused.

"His name is Blue Dias" Aaron noted.

"How do you know that?" Callum gasped.

"I met him and his friends down near the river; there were four of them and they had ten dragons with them. He taught me what to do if any wild dragons should ever appear in the future."

"If any wild dragons come around here, I'm givin' them both barrels" Aaron's father said.

"Blue said it was a bad idea to try and fight dragons because we're sure to lose" Aaron insisted "He said it's better to give them some food and make friends."

"Friends?" his father said, even more confused.

Just then a man arrived on a horse, riding hard.

"Angus, did you see the dragon fly by?" he asked.

"Aye we did; it appears my son met the rider down by the river."

"You met her? What was she like?" the man on horse said as he dismounted.

"I thought you said it was a man?" Angus said to Aaron.

"I said there was four of them; what colour was the dragon you saw sir?" Aaron asked.

"It were red... and really ugly."

"That one's called Boris, and the lady on his back was Haley Robinson; she's got a pathetic leg."

"What made it pathetic?" Callum wondered.

"You know... it wasn't real... made of metal."

"You mean prosthetic son" Angus chuckled "Perhaps we should all go inside, and you can tell us all about these riders you met and their dragons."

As they went in, Aaron suddenly realised what the Dragon Riders had done. By flying around the area and showing themselves, they had made it possible for the boy to tell his story without being called a liar. It was nice to know Blue was true to his word.

'

* * *

'

The Dragon Riders took advantage of the increase in daylight they gained as they travelled further south. They flew on for most of the afternoon, only taking a short fifteen minute break after crossing the channel into France. By the time the sun had started to set, they had travelled more than halfway across the country to the once great city of Lyon. Unlike Inverness, most of the metropolis was still intact but they did pass another crater fifty kilometres north of the city, meaning there was still quite a lot of damage to the surrounding area. Many of the buildings had not managed to withstand the accompanying shockwave, or the passage of time.

"Hey that looks like a good place to stop for the night" Haley pointed down to a large park about five kilometres from the city, on the south eastern side.

Beginning to tire, they all wholeheartedly agreed about its suitability and had just started down, when Calla noticed something else.

"Hey... that oval on the east side; is that a horse racing track?"

The Dragon Riders turned slightly left and landed on the track near the remains of the main grandstand.

"Hippodrome de Parilly" Haley read on a sign next to the finishing post "Are you sure they raced horses here?"

"Hippos is Greek for horse" Abigail chuckled.

"So what does Hippopotamus mean, horse potato?"

Haley was most disappointed when Abigail literally fell off her dragon laughing.

"Potamos in Greek means river" Blue smiled "so Hippopotamus effectively means horse of the river, where as hippodrome was a place for horse and chariot racing."

"Horse potato" Abigail repeated with tears streaming from her eyes.

"Alright, don't rub it in" Haley sulked "Greek words on a French sign... and besides, why were you learning this kind of stuff on Mars?"

Abigail managed to climb back to her feet but still needed to lean on Lucy and Ricky for support.

"Professor Topolski always said I'd be glad one day to have taken part in his language lessons, but up till now I never believed him."

"Okay fun's over for now, let's see if we can find the stables" Blue suggested.

In the fading light of dusk, the Dragon Riders could just make out a group of single story buildings east of the dilapidated grandstand, and rightly assumed this was the place they were looking for. Being solidly constructed of concrete blocks, the horse stables had mostly withstood the test of time, but were still in a very run down condition. Even so they would make a good place to spend the night, so they dumped all their gear in a pile and started to look around.

"Hey Firefly, could you give me a little light please" Blue asked the little Terror.

The dragon perched in its usual place on Blue's shoulder and with its mouth open, he provided a bright lantern flame. The other riders followed Blues example and spread out to explore the buildings, trucks and horse floats scattered throughout the area. The first few were mostly empty apart from discarded rubbish and fallen ceiling timbers, but later he did find a few straps and bridles hanging on wall hooks.

"Maybe we can make some use of these, eh Firefly?"

As he exited with his find, Blue noticed Speedy was following along behind and looking into every place his rider had just been.

"Don't want to be left out, do ya bud?" Blue smiled at the curious dragon.

"HEY... I'VE HIT THE JACKPOT" Abigail called out from a truck parked near a side gate.

Dragon Riders and dragons rushed in from all directions to see the young girl from Mars proudly holding up a small racing saddle.

"The truck is full of stuff like this" she declared "Must have belonged to a saddler and farrier."

Being first on the scene, Calla climbed into the side door of the long box truck.

"She's right... although I don't think the dragons would be happy if we tried to shoe them."

Blue took a deep breath and smiled; thing certainly seemed to be going their way.

"Well it looks like we've got a lot of stuff to play with before we leave tomorrow, I suggest we..."

"Oh merde" a shocked voice came from the gate near the back of the truck.

It was now too dark to see who was there, but they could still make out the silhouette of a tall thin man who soon ran away screaming.

"BETES SAUVAGES! LEZARDS DE MONSTRE!"

"Oh crap; here we go again" Blue sighed.

'

* * *

'

**As is usual, not much has happened in the last few days. I went for a long bike ride this morning in what should have been peak traffic, but there were not too many cars on the road.**

**I have now gone from "I don't have any anime to watch" to "How will I decide which one to watch first?" I suppose this is a good problem to have ;)**

**Stay safe everyone and I'll be back soon,**_** Marty**_


	54. Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Blue and Calla leapt onto their dragons and did their best to follow the frightened man along the ground while keeping their distance, but Windstorm and Speedy kept trying to race him, so in the end they decided to take to the air and watch from the sky to see where he went. The man ran through the forest park surrounding the race track before following a road looping around to the east and across an abandoned freeway flyover. After about a kilometre, he finally tired and slowed down as he approached what appeared to be an airport. Blue and Calla came into land on a grassed area on the north western side and saw the man disappear around the side of a large building.

"Hold the dragons here; I'm going to see what he's up to" Blue said as he dropped to the ground.

"Be careful" Calla suggested.

"I'll scream if I need you" Blue replied as he ran to the corner of the building.

He looked around the corner and watched as the man continued across an apron between several aircraft hangers and office blocks. As he neared the hanger, he started shouting again, brining three people outside to see what all the fuss was about.

"I'm going to talk to them" Blue called back to Calla.

He walked briskly across the centre of the apron, trying to look innocent, a task made difficult by the light of the quarter moon. The people didn't notice him at first, but Blue could hear them arguing.

"Qu'est-ce que ti cries a propos de toi idiot?" the only man to come out said angrily.

"Je viens de metre les enfants au lit" one of the women added.

"Enorme lizard, monstres, retour a l'hippodrome!" the frightened man responded.

"I suppose now is the time to introduce myself" Blue mumbled under his breath "ERR... HELLO?"

All four looked at Blue with surprise.

"Et qui etes-vous?" the first woman demanded.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't know much French" Blue admitted.

"Ah, you are the English person."

"Not really, I'm from the other side of the world actually."

"Well what are you doing here, and what rubbish have you been telling Chance?"

"Je dis la verite, je les ai vu" Chance insisted.

"Tais-toi Chance" the woman snapped "so then... who are you?"

"My name is Blue Dias, and I'm here with three of my friends. We're only staying the night over at the park and will be leaving in the morning. I'm sorry to have caused you trouble."

"Are you trying to tell me you are some kind of travelling lizard salesman?" the woman sneered.

"Lizard sales... err no I'm not."

"Then what is this fool going on about?"

Blue was tempted to let the people think Chances ravings were just some hallucination, but he didn't feel right leaving the man subject to future ridicule.

"Please don't blame him, we just surprised him... let me show you."

Three of the people looked at each other with confusion, while Chance backed up a little in fear, for none of them were sure what this young stranger would do next. They watched as Blue walked back the way he had come and called out to someone.

"Calla, bring Speedy and Windstorm."

"Are you sure?" a cute head came around the corner and replied.

"No... but do it anyway."

It was difficult to see from a distance, but the people of Lyon could definitely see something large approaching them; then they noticed it was two somethings.

"Oh merde" the first woman gasped as she too took a step back.

"C'est ce que j'ai dit" Chance admitted.

As they neared, Blue could see Calla had remounted Windstorm and kept the Nadder well controlled, but Speedy got a little over excited yet again and bounded over to his rider.

"Okay buddy, take it easy" Blue laughed as he held the dragon steady "Don't worry, they may be big, but they're not dangerous, as you can tell by the fourteen year old girl riding on her Nadder."

"Nadder? I have never heard of such a beast" the second man openly admitted.

"Okay this may be hard to believe..." Blue brought Speedy a little closer "but um... these really are dragons."

Everyone in the group except for Chance laughed; not loudly, nut with clear derision.

"Oh... so they can fly... and breath fire?" the second woman chuckled.

"Hey Buddy, can you give us a little light please" Blue asked Speedy.

The dragon opened his mouth, revealing a bright blue light at the back of his throat, illuminating the outstretched broad wings of Windstorm.

"Yes and yes" Blue responded to the surprised quartet "Look I'm sorry we upset Chance, but we really just needed a place to rest overnight before we continue on in the morning."

The group was silent for a moment as they took in what they had just seen. Two of them took another step back, but the first woman just stood and thought. From her seat on Windstorm's back, Calla could see another figure peeking around the corner of the building behind the four French people.

"Would you like a closer look?" Blue asked "I can bring him to you, or..."

"Are you sure he is safe?" the lady asked.

"Quite sure" Blue smiled and led the dragon forward a little while comforting him "It's okay Speedy, they just want to say hello."

Chance and the woman tried their best to wait for the dragon and let him sniff at them, but the other two continued their slow retreat.

"Just pet him lightly the same way you would a cat, dog or horse" Blue suggested.

"Peau rugueuse."

"Chance says his skin is rough" the woman translated.

"I'd call it scaly" Blue smiled.

"Perhaps it is time for the introductions" the lady said "You know Chance of course, I am Mallory and these cowards behind us are Andre and Eloise."

"Qui appelez-vous un lache?" Andre protested.

"As I said before, my name is Blue, the girl on the Nadder is Calla, and these are two of our dragons; Speedy and Windstorm."

"Two of them? How many do you have?" Mallory asked, wide eyed.

"Three more large ones and five little ones" Blue admitted.

An audible gasp came from the boy half hiding around the corner. As soon as she heard it, Mallory ordered the young man to go inside; which he reluctantly did. Now reasonably satisfied of the dragon's good intentions, Chance took the opportunity to speak to his far away friends."

"Andre, Eloise, viens et vois."

They distant two looked nervously at each other but eventually they did take a step forward. They quickly stopped though when something lit up the sky behind Blue and Calla.

"Que'st-ce que c-est que ca?" Eloise gasped.

"Blue... that was a Nightmare flame" Calla said nervously.

"When you're right, you're right; sorry everyone, we've got to go" Blue apologised as he leapt onto Speedy's back.

"Wait, we'll come too" Mallory called but the Dragon Riders would not stop for anything or anyone.

"I'll stay with the children, you go" Eloise offered as the other three ran off.

It was long run back to the Hippodrome, but a very short trip by dragon. What Calla and Blue witnessed when they got back certainly filled them with fear and dread. Surrounding the race track was a ring road lined with trees on both sides. A large mob of people had amassed behind the trees and were currently engaged in semi-battle with the Dragon Riders who had taken cover behind the stable buildings.

Haley and Abigail had tried to take to the air, but some of the people carried firearms, while a few more possessed crossbows. Sending out the occasional fireball was the best they could manage, but it had kept the enemy at bay. Blue desperately scanned the area, trying to come up with a plan that would extract their friends from danger without killing any of the citizens of Lyon, or excessively injuring them. Fortunately or he and Calla, nobody had noticed the soaring dragons above them because of all the action and noise going on down below.

Blue considered attacking the attackers head on, but he knew it was too risky; people may be killed and one of the dragons could be felled by a crossbow bolt. He looked at the possibility of shooting at the trees they hid behind, but exploding wood can do horrible things to soft flesh. Eventually Blue realised he was running low on options, so he decided to take drastic actions.

"Go for the truck" he called to Calla.

"What? We need that truck" she protested.

"Not as much as we need to save the girls and the dragons" Blue insisted "Hit it under the centre, on the ground between the axles."

"You're the boss" Calla shrugged as she banked her dragon around.

As a Dragon Rider, Calla had already gained a lot of experience since her time on the Faroe Islands; so she knew all she had to do was to line up and dive in.

"Windstorm; FIRE" she ordered.

The sound of the incoming dragon and the light of its fireball certainly drew a lot of attention, but of course it was far too late for anyone to react as the ball of burning lightning exploded underneath the truck, lifting it into the air. Before it had reached the apex of its assent, the rear of the truck was hit twice in quick succession by the Night Fury's plasma blast, flipping it forward onto its nose before momentum kept the truck going, and it continued to tumble forward onto its roof.

With the remains of its engine oil and diesel fuel leaking down over the wreck, it only took one last shot to the now exposed transmission, to set the old vehicle alight. The Dragon Riders unconventional attack certainly had the desired effect as the people taking cover behind the trees had witnessed firsthand how outgunned they were, thanks to the burning truck only a few meters from their noses.

As Blue and Calla brought their dragons back down to the ground, they witnessed the clandestine attackers beating a very hasty retreat. With the gunfire silenced after the explosion, Abigail and Haley sensed the coast was clear and came out from their cover, with the dragons following close behind.

"Thank goodness you saw our signal" Haley sighed.

"Yeah we were worried they may have surrounded us and... Blue; look out!"

Abigail suddenly noticed three people approaching from the road gate and feared this may be the start of a new assault.

"HEY... BACK OFF IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU!" Blue barked at the dark figures.

"Monsieur Blue, it is me Mallory I have come with Chance and Andre."

"Oh... sorry... I thought... don't worry Abby, they're friends" Blue apologised, while trying to calm down.

"What happened here?" Mallory asked.

"Well... my guess is some people must have seen us flying in over the city, and assumed the arrival of flying monsters was a bit of a problem they needed to deal with" Blue answered.

"Oh cher... how many did you have to kill before they ran away?" Andre asked.

"None I think, but we did have to destroy this truck for them to get the message" Blue replied.

"Such a shame too" Calla shook her head "we really needed that truck."

"What for? It was just an old wreck" Mallory shrugged.

"It was what was inside though" Blue explained "Calla's dragon is the only one with a saddle and that truck had saddles, bridles, harnesses, stirrups... everything we needed."

"Wait a moment, let me get this straight" Mallory noted "Rather than hurt or kill any of the people attacking you, you scared them off by destroying the one thing you really needed?"

"Of course" Abigail shrugged "We're not here to cause mass death and destruction."

Mallory turned to Chance and translated what had happened and what the Dragon Riders had done. When he heard the story, Chance marched forward, grabbed Blue by the shoulders and kissed him on both cheeks.'

"Merci Monsieur Blue, merci beaucoup" Chance stated.

"Err... you're welcome?" Blue responded while the other Dragon Riders tried to hide their laughter.

"You see Blue, the people who attacked you are our friends, our neighbours and maybe even relatives" Mallory explained "So the fact that you went to such lengths to avoid hurting any of them has greatly impressed us. On the way here, we heard the sound of gunfire, so you would have been justified in defending yourselves, but you found another way and we are very grateful."

"It is not safe for you here anymore" Andre noted "ze braver ones may re-group and try to ambush you in the night. You will come back to the airport with us and we will hide your dragons in the hanger."

Haley step close to Blue and whispered in his ear.

"Who are these people... and do you think we can trust them?"

"Mallory, Chance, Andre" Blue pointed to each in turn "and I assume Eloise is back at the hanger?"

"Oui; there are children and we did not want to leave them alone" Andre told them.

"Understandable, but with they be okay with the dragons?" Calla asked.

"Oh you won't be in the same section as the children" Mallory shook her head.

"Well it looks like everything is set for the night. Okay then riders, let's pack up" Blue suggested.

While the Dragon Riders sorted and re-packed their gear, Chance, Mallory and Andre walked back to the airport and opened a hanger door at the far end of the building. Upon their arrival, the Dragon Riders found the concrete floor was uncomfortable but at least nobody else in Lyon knew they were there and when the hanger door was shut, they actually felt quite safe. The dragons soon settled down with their riders inside what they thought was an odd square cave, while Blue and Speedy spent a little time with their lone Gronckle, who sometimes felt a little left out.

"You may not realise it, but I'm really impressed by you" Blue admitted as he petted the dragon "Abigail told me you stuck close to the others and provided some very useful cover fire when they were forced to retreat behind the stables. Now I see why Toothless chose you to come with us."

The bulbous dragon rolled on its back, begging to have its tummy rubbed while basking in the attention he was given. While Blue obliged the dragon's request, another rider approached with a question."

"So what are we going to do in the morning?" Haley asked.

"Pack up early and leave I guess" Blue responded "Hopefully we'll find an isolated river or lake south of here where the dragons can feed. I wouldn't want to make them wait until we reach the southern coast."

"Yeah... I suppose there is little else we can do" Haley nodded "You know Blue, I'm beginning to see a pattern developing; everywhere we go we manage to make a few friends and a lot of enemies."

"Not in Scotland; there we only met one boy and I would not call him an enemy" Blue remaindered her.

"Yeah... Aaron was a good kid. Do you think we should have made him a Dragon Rider? He could have had the Gronckle."

"You can't be serious" Blue glared at her "We can't just ask anyone to join us without really knowing them, so I don't think we'll pick up another member in the near future."

"I suppose you're right" Haley shrugged and wandered back to where Boris lay softly snoring.

Blue curled up in is bed roll with the Gronkle and Speedy just before Andre turned out the lights, and he soon drifted off to sleep still wondering what else could go wrong as they continued across the globe.

'

* * *

'

**While everything is still shut down here in Australia, the number of new Covid-19 cases is low here and dropping every day. But the news reports I've been seeing paint a different picture overseas, especially in Italy, Spain and the US. Naturally this means every time I watch the news, I find myself thinking of Vin, Draco and the elusive Florida Guest. Still hoping you are all fine, both in health and with all the financial problems caused by the various shut downs. It makes me glad the story is finished because instead of taking a week or two to write a new chapter before posting, I only need a few days to re-write before the next one goes up.**

**Not sure yet, but I think I have an idea for a new Ruff & Tuff detective story so I'll get to work on that soon so you'll have something else to read (if you want).**

**See ya soon, **_**Marty. **_**(PS: sorry about all the French in the next few chapters, none of it is vital dialog though)  
**


	55. Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Blue had a very restless night thanks not only to the hard floor, but also to a very bad nightmare. In his dream he was alone with the dragons and no other riders were around, when a group of dark figures appeared all around him. They had no defined edges and did not walk towards him, but drifted instead. Blue tried to push them away to no avail as his hands were unable to even touch them. They on the other hand could easily take whatever they wanted, and these dark figures wanted the dragons. Starting with the Gronkle, the dragons were taken one by one, dragged away into the darkness. Blue tried to hold onto them but he could not maintain his grip until even Speedy disappeared screaming into the black void.

Blue's entire body shook as he jerked back into consciousness.

"You okay Babe?" Calla mumbled when she heard Blue gasp.

"Wha? Umm... uh yeah... just a bad dream."

It isn't easy to crawl while inside a sleeping bag, but Calla did manage to roll over onto her stomach and shimmy on her elbows for a few meters until she could rest her head on Blue's chest.

"What's wrong?" she asked "You're hyperventilating so much you sound like a bicycle pump."

Blue sighed as he slipped his arms out of his sleeping bag to embrace her.

"What was I thinking Calla? Why did I assume we could help re-introduce dragons to the world and keep them safe? Some day they're all going come pouring out of their hidden world and the second dragon war won't be far behind."

"You don't know that" Calla counter argued.

"Don't I? Look at the trouble we ran into on the Faroe Islands; and not everyone on the Shetlands was happy to see us either. Put it all together with what happened last night and things are not looking very rosy for the future of human/dragon relations."

"Hey... don't forget though; we did make friends in both the Faroes and the Shetlands, and although we are not there anymore, they in turn will spread the truth about the dragons. And don't forget Scotland; one boy who is now able to tell everyone he knows not to be afraid of the dragons they saw flying overhead. Telling his story of seeing the dragons up close and meeting their riders, all of this will have an impact, along with what will happen when our current hosts start telling their neighbours that they are alive today because the dragons decided not to burnt them to a crisp; they did not want to hurt anyone, they only wanted to protect themselves... and us."

"Yeah Haley and I were talking about this last night; do you think this kind of thing will happen everywhere we go?" Blue asked.

"Probably... yes so maybe we'll have to work out a better strategy for future arrivals in new places, but for now I think it would be best if you just realised that you are not alone, we are not alone, and more people will hopefully join the dragon fan club in the days, weeks and months to come; now go back to sleep."

"Thank you" Blue smiled to himself "I love you."

"Of course you do; I'm wonderful."

'

* * *

'

Everyone awoke early the next morning when the large hanger door was opened only slightly. Chance entered and switched on a small light on the side wall, illuminating the hanger just enough so he wouldn't step on anyone.

"Bonjour mes amis."

"Chance says good morning to you all" Mallory added as she came in behind him.

"I may not speak French but I still managed to work that one out" Haley mumbled as she hid her face from the light.

"The sun will be up soon and so we must prepare to leave" Mallory informed her guests.

"Yes I suppose it would be best if we got an early start on... wait a minute, did you say we?"

"Oui, I did say we; as soon as you are ready we will fly twenty five kilometres north to a little place near the River Saone. There we will meet with my old friend, Monsieur Jeremie Leclerc."

"But we're headed southeast to..."

"Maybe so, but first you must come with me to see Monsieur Leclerc" Mallory insisted.

"Does he know something about dragons?" Calla asked.

"Non, in fact we must approach with care or we may give him the heart attack."

"I don't understand why we have to go to see this man" Blue admitted.

"Do not worry, you will" Mallory smiled "So pack up your gear and I will prepare my plane."

"Plane; you're not riding with us?" Blue wondered.

"Oh no, and you are coming with me dear boy; your dragon can follow with the others."

Mallory and Chance then left the Dragon Riders to pack, and to wonder what was going on.

"What do you think is going on?" Abigail asked, making the author's last line superfluous.

"Maybe we should just pack up and leave" Haley suggested.

"We could, but I must admit, I want to know what's so great about this Leclerc guy" Calla admitted.

"Yeah... Mallory has got me curious too" Blue agreed.

After pushing the hanger door wide open, the Dragon Riders could finally see their surroundings in the morning light. The large hanger was situated on the side of a taxiway leading from the rear apron, where Blue had chased Chance the night before, out to the main runway of the airport. There were four hanger bays and the dragons had been housed on the extreme west bay while Mallory's plane was in the next one over.

At the far eastern end of the hanger, Andre and Eloise stood with three thoroughly amazed children. Two were quite young but the third was a little older, and Blue suspected he was the boy he had seen the night before. A small aircraft soon appeared from bay three of the hanger being pushed by Chance and Mallory. Although it was not very big, it looked very sleek and well maintained.

"Have you ever seen one of these before?" Mallory smiled proudly "It is a Pipistrel Alpha Electro; over forty years old now but still going strong."

"Cute" Calla said about the high wing plane.

"Oui, and it was one of the first commercially available electric aircraft too."

"That thing's electric" Abigail gasped "I thought little planes like these had internal combustion engines."

"Most do, but not this one; we have solar panels up on the hanger roof to keep it charged."

"Cool" Calla added a second word to her admiration.

"Here, take this radio" Mallory told Calla as she handed it over "I will circle over a field where you and the dragons should land. Blue and I will fly on to the Leclerc farm and when we have warned them about what to expect, you follow the direction I go in and land near to the plane; you understand, oui?"

"Clear as mud" Calla nodded with a cheeky grin on her face.

"Mama, je peux y aller aussi?" the older boy said as he approached.

"Non Gage, there are only two seats and I must take Blue with me" Mallory replied.

"Is this your son?" Haley asked.

"Oui, he sometimes flies with me but not today I'm sorry."

"I could take him on Boris if you're okay with it" Haley offered.

Mallory looked at the big red dragon and thought for a moment.

"Please say yes Mama" Gage begged.

"I'm sorry but although I can see you handle your dragons well, it can be clearly seen by your injuries that they are quite dangerous" Mallory shook her head.

"If by injuries you mean my leg and Calla's face, neither of them were caused by dragons" Haley stated "I was shot, and had to have my leg amputated because of infection."

"And my scars are the result of an argument with an unreasonable woman with a cup of boiling hot soup" Calla admitted "Not quite as impressive as dragon fire I suppose."

"And you saw last night how good the dragons were at avoiding trouble" Blue added.

The pleading look on her sons face, combined with the Dragon Riders reassurances, led to the nervous mother agreeing to let him go; but later as the small electric plane taxied out to the runway, Mallory began to have second thoughts.

"Are you sure Gage will be alright on the dragon?"

"I mean no disrespect, but I think he's in a much safer position than we are right now. This is a good plane but flying comes naturally to Boris, and his wings are better than parachutes."

"I hope you are right" Mallory shook her head slightly.

The plane lifted off and banked around to the north, passing over the hippodrome. Blue looked down and saw there were a few people looking to see if there were any sign of the dragons. When they heard the whine of the planes electric motor, some looked up to see their friend Mallory leading five large dragons overhead.

"I get the feeling they may get the idea to go and talk with Chance about this; do you think we should warn him?" Blue asked.

"Non, we expected this and he knows exactly what he will tell them" Mallory nodded.

After they had flown for just over ten minutes, Mallory took the plane into a sharp full turn before bringing it back on course. Behind them the dragons settled back down to Earth to await further instructions. Five minutes later, the small plane came into land on a short field strip and taxied up to a stone farmhouse next to a large stable and a small workshop. Hearing the aircraft approach, a man of about sixty years came out of the front door. He smiled and raised his arms in greeting before being helped down the front porch steps by a young lady.

"Mallory, quel plaisir inattendu" he laughed.

"Allo Jeremie, allo Jeanne; please excuse me speaking English but me friend here has no French" she told them.

"Ah, he has come over from England?" Jeremie wondered.

"Originally I came from Sumatra" Blue corrected them politely.

"Seigneur; you have come a long way."

"Further than you'd think" Blue smiled.

"How is your foot Jeremie?" Mallory asked.

"Oh much better thanks to you and Doctor Artois. I can mostly get around on my own now but I still need some help from my beautiful granddaughter" the old man replied.

"Blue, these good people are Jeremie and Jeanne Leclerc, and this young man is Blue Dias; I would consider it a great favour to me personally if you would consent to help him."

"Oh... you have no need to ask for favours, my entire family is indebted to you and your little plane; what does he need?" Jeremie asked.

"Saddles, at least four, maybe five."

"Ah you are travelling on horses" the old man smiled "I can certainly help you there."

Now that Blue knew why he had been brought to the Leclerc farm, he had to contend with the fear of what the man would do and say when he learned the truth about what kind of creature the saddles were really for. Fortunately for him, Mallory had already worked out the way she would break the news.

"It is not horses Jeremie but before I tell you anymore, I must ask you to be calm."

"Calm? What is he riding; tigers?"

Walking forward, Mallory took her friends hands in hers and looked at him seriously.

"Worse than tigers my friend... but it is probably best that we show you. Just keep in mind that I would not do anything to hurt you and your family; you must trust me."

With her warning given, Mallory walked back to her plane and reached inside the cockpit for the radio microphone.

"Calla, can you hear me, over."

"Yes Mallory, loud and clear, over" Calla responded.

"You may come now; please land well away from the house, over."

"Message received, out."

Walking back, Mallory asked Blue to go out about fifty meters from the plane to wave the dragons in.

"I'm sure I just heard you say something about dragons to the boy; you cannot be serious" Jeremie gave a sly smile.

"I won't ask you to believe me, just look to the south and remember; my own son is flying with them and you know I would not put him in danger, so please don't be afraid. I must admit though, I was at first."

There was something about the way Mallory had admitted to being afraid that worried Jeremie. What really surprised him though was when he looked to the south, and was advised by Blue to look up higher.

"Oh merde!" he gasped.

"Oui... everyone says that" Mallory nodded.

'

* * *

'

**I am happy to hear about improvements in Italy Vin, but it can't come soon enough and I look forward to hearing more good news in the future. (Don't we all?)**

**I have some good news for you Florida Guest. You must have read my mind because I have just finished the second chapter of the next story, tentatively titled Death Rides a Dragon; and yes, it is a Thorston Twins detective story. I must apologise though because I doubt it will be very long. It was going to be added to the Berk: Year Two selection of short stories but I'll have a think to see if I can make it a full length stand alone tale. One thing is sure, it won't be as long as this story. ;D**

**Hope everyone is happy and safe, and I'll be back soon. **_**Marty.**_


	56. Chapter 56

**A slightly longer chapter today, so enjoy :D**

* * *

Chapter 56

Seeing Blue on the ground waving his arms, Calla led the Dragon Riders down and landed in front of him. One dragon in particular was very pleased to see Blue and bounded up to him, knocking him over backwards.

"Oh my God; he's being attacked" Jeanne gasped.

"Non Jeanne, that is Speedy and he is Blue's dragon" Mallory corrected her "He is just over excited, like a big black puppy."

Mallory was soon proven right when Blue managed to get back onto his feet and hugged the dragons affectionately. He then spoke to the other riders for a moment, sending Calla and Windstorm over to the Leclercs.

"Good morning" she gave a simple greeting.

The sight of such a young girl sitting high on the back of a creature that should not even exist, proved yet again to be a truly life changing experience; just as it had been for Mallory. Jeremie stared at the dragon with his mouth wide open, unable to believe what his eyes were showing him.

"Is... is that really a dragon?" he gasped.

"Well it's not a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel" Mallory shook her head.

"B-but they're not real."

"It looks real to me Grand-Pere" Jeanne admitted, her heart racing.

"And you want me to fit these creatures... with saddles?" Jeremie asked, still slightly shocked.

Calla heart leapt and her eyes opened wide when Leclerc mentioned saddles; now she too why they were there instead of flying south.

"Please sir, Windstorm is the only one of our dragons who has a saddle. It would be wonderful if you could help us out" she smiled.

Jeremie Leclerc glanced over to his granddaughter who looked back with a shrug. Blue brought the other riders and their dragons a little closer, but they still kept a reasonable distance.

"Mallory, why don't you bring Mister Leclerc and Miss Jeanne over to meet Speedy? He would love to say hello."

Both women helped Jeremie to limp over to the excitedly friendly Night Fury. The dragon did his usual sniffing of the air as they approached, and was pleased to sense there was no aroma of oiled metal and gunpowder.

"He seems to like having the top of his head rubbed" Mallory suggested.

"Yes... and his chin too" Blue agreed.

Jeremie Leclerc's fear soon turned to excitement as he realised being with this creature was no worse than standing with a large and powerful horse. Taking his time, Blue made sure the Leclerc's were able to become accustomed to all five of the larger dragons, as well as introducing them to the Terrors, who all soon started running around the farm playing games of discovery.

Now that the initial shock of seeing dragons was waning, Jeremie and Jeanne started to look closely at each of the dragons and attempted to work out the challenges they would face in fitting a saddle to each of their individual body types. Boris's frightening visage was still hard to get used to at first, but at least he was calm and still; unlike the eager Gronkle and the inquisitive Zippleback, who both made the planning stage quite difficult. Leclerc especially found being closely examined by the two heads of Lucy and Ricky was still very nerve-racking, even though he had already made friends with the Zippleback.

"Jeanne, I want you to go back to your parent's home and get the word out to the family" Jeremie eventually ordered "I want everyone who can work leather here as soon as possible; we've got a lot of work to do."

"Maybe Calla and Daisy should go with her" Blue suggested "It can be hard to disbelieve in dragons when you are looking at one."

"Good idea young man" Jeremie agreed.

As soon as Calla and Jeanne had left, Jeremie got straight to work re-examining the dragons, making notes, taking measurements, making notes, examining each dragons gate, making notes, watching the dragons in flight, and then making notes. More people began to arrive over the next forty minutes; some in awe, some in shock. One child was so thrilled to see the dragons, he had to be held back by his father. Meanwhile two of the adults instantly decided these dragons were not their cup of tea and they both retreated to the relative safety of the main workshop.

Under Jeremies direction, several types of standard saddles were tentatively fitted to some of the dragons specifically to look for problems that may arise later if not addressed now. Each of the riders helped him to understand where the dragons were strongest and each of their like and dislikes. He was most surprised to hear that although Abigail had been flying her Zippleback from its shoulders, the normal seating position was at the top of the neck, just behind the head.

The inside of the main workshop was a hive of activity with people marking, cutting and punching leather on long flat benches, while others used various methods to shape individual pieces. There were two large sewing machines on opposite sides of the shop, each one looking more like a drill press. They were each operated by a team of two; one to guide the work, and one to slowly turn a large steel flywheel. The long thick needles on these machines moved very slowly, giving the operator time to line up each stitch with pre-made punch holes done earlier on the bench.

Outside there were fittings, more measurements for harnesses, and a lot of play with several excited children. Jeremie could not believe the sight of his many grandchildren frolicking with these fierce looking creatures, so he sent one of his sons to fetch an old digital camera from inside the house. The dragons had no idea why everyone was standing still and smiling for the old man with the little box, but they decided to play along because it made the people happy.

Later in the morning the dragons were taken in pairs to the nearby river to feed and to give them a break from the kids, but for the most part they all basked in the attention they were given. There was even some jealousy between Lucy and Ricky when Lucy had her saddle fitted first. It seemed that for these dragons, a new saddle was clearly the must have fashion accessory of the season.

"Can you believe this" Calla said to Blue as she took his arm and rested her head on his shoulders.

"Yeah, it's amazing... and hard to believe after what happened yesterday. We're losing a lot of time but I think it's worth it" Blue smiled.

"Erm... excuse me" Gage approached from behind "You are the leader of the Dragon Riders?"

"Yes we are" Blue turned and nodded.

"I um... was wondering... if perhaps I... I could join your group?"

Blue and Calla both looked at each other wide eyed as this was truly a surprise.

"Well um... what does your mother think of you being a Dragon Rider?" Blue asked.

"I figure there was no point getting her to agree if you said non, so I came to you first."

"What do you think?" Blue checked with Calla.

"Ah... well then... I think... I think I have no idea" Calla admitted "On one hand our Gronckle doesn't have a rider yet, but on the other hand we don't know what kind of a future we are flying into and with all respect Gage, we don't know you very well either."

"Oh I promise you, I will do my best" he replied eagerly "I have had much experience with flying, mama has even taught me how to land her plane, I have done the camping, hunting and fishing for most of my life, I am sure I could fit in with your friends."

"It's a risk" Blue said to Calla "but I guess it wouldn't hurt to talk to his mother about it."

"BLUE, WE'VE GOT TROUBLE OVER HERE!" they heard Haley call out.

"Argh; why can we have just one problem at a time?" Blue asked the universe.

All three quickly wandered over to where Abigail and Haley were assisting Jeremie with Lucy and Ricky.

"Abby was about to test the new Zippleback seating position on Lucy's neck, when Ricky started getting upset and tried to snatch her away. This soon started a fight between the two heads as to who was going to get Abby as their rider."

Blue looked at the Zippleback and sighed. The now innocent looking dragon was being comforted by Abigail as she stood between heads, hugging each one.

"I guess you'll have to go back to riding on the shoulder between them" Blue shook his head.

"Hey Blue, what about our eager little French friend?" Calla suggested.

"Little? I'm taller that you" Gage protested.

"We haven't spoken to Mallory about it yet, plus we don't know how Lucy and Ricky are going to feel about him" Blue noted.

"Then we shall see" Gage smiled.

Trying not to look too pushy, the French boy walked slowly up to the dragons and greeted the right head with a slight bow.

"Hello Lucy" he greeted.

"That's Ricky" Abigail snickered.

"Oh sorry, I thought Ricky was the right head."

"Yes, but the dragons right, not your right."

"Ah I see" Gage nodded "Do you think I could try sitting in Ricky's saddle?"

Abigail looked to Blue and Calla, but they both just smiled and shrugged.

"Okay but first come and get to know her better; you pet Ricky and I'll take care of Lucy" Abigail suggested.

They took a few minutes getting the dragon used to having two people fawning over her. For some unknown reason both Lucy and Ricky were happy to have someone paying them attention, while at the same time continuing to be jealous of each other.

"Mom said Saffy and I were the same when we were young" Abigail admitted.

"What did she do?" Blue asked.

"Shouted sometimes, but mostly she would separate us to opposite sides of the room until we agreed to play nice."

"Give it a try" Blue shrugged.

Abigail directed Gage to take hold of Ricky's new bridle and gently lead her around to the right while she went left with Lucy. The result was instantaneous as both sides of the dragon calmed down and payed full attention to the person in front of them. Lowering Lucy's head close to the ground, Abigail then pulled herself up into the saddle and nodded for Gage to do the same.

"I think its working" Abigail said with caution.

Both Ricky and Lucy seemed very pleased as the riders rubbed their hands on the side of the dragon's necks. They naturally turned back towards each other though and started growling as soon as they noticed the other head had a rider too.

"Hey... no" Abigail pulled Lucy's rein slightly to the left to stop her from snapping at Ricky.

As soon as Gage noticed what she had done, he repeated the action with Ricky.

"They'll get used to it eventually" Calla smiled as she took Blue's hand.

"I guess they'd become too accustomed to having to share Abby, neither one could accept seeing the other with its own personal rider" Blue thought out loud.

"As I said, they'll get used to it" Calla repeated.

"I suppose it's time to see what Mallory has to say about her son coming with us; although I must admit to not being sure about it myself" Blue confided in Calla.

As they went to find her, Speedy trotted away from his saddle fitting to proudly show Blue what he had on his back.

"Hey, somebody bring that dragon back!" one of Jeremie's relatives called out.

"Come on Bud, you're not done yet" Blue smiled as he returned Speedy to his small team of fitters.

"Ah merci" the man acknowledged "he is a very excitable animal."

"More than you'd imagine" Blue nodded.

The young Night Fury looked very disappointed when the people around him removed the saddle and took it away; he thought he was being punished.

"It's alright Speedy, you're a good boy and we all love you" Blue tried to comfort the dragon "I'm sorry bud but you'll have to wait till the nice people have completed your saddle; it isn't quite finished yet."

Blue wasn't sure if Speedy understood, but the soft words and kind gestures from his rider did make him realise he was not in trouble. Deep down in the back of his mind, Speedy had thoughts and memories of Toothless, and he felt a strong desire to make his noble and powerful Alpha proud of him.

By the time Blue managed to get away and join the others, Mallory had already given her negative answer. Still sitting high on the Zippleback, Gage looked disappointed but resigned. He had genuinely hoped to join the Dragon Riders, but he knew inside there was very little chance it would happen.

"Maybe I should try talking to her" Blue suggested.

"Wait, Haley is already doing exactly that" Calla told him.

Not far away, Mallory was trying to be insistent about being against her son leaving with the Dragon Riders, but she was not prepared for the direction Haley was about to take the conversation in.

"I can understand why you would not want your fifteen year old son to leave home so suddenly, but you have to think about the rest of your family as well as the Leclerc clan and the rest of Lyon as well" Haley began.

"What are you talking about; how does this affect them?" Mallory shrugged.

"Blue and Abigail's parents, along with many of their friends, are highly involved with the Mars Project and the continuing operation to get as many people off Earth as they can before the big one hits. Of course you all would all be a part of the evacuation, but having Gage so close to the people in charge would surely help all these people to go sooner rather than later" Haley said while gesturing to all the people busily working behind them.

"Are you saying Gage would get the people of Lyon special treatment?"

"Not at all because the Railgun team don't work that way; but to put it differently, it would mean everyone here would be effectively in the front of Doctor Spencer's mind when the space shots restart."

"So who is this Doctor Spencer?" Mallory asked.

"She is the head of the Railgun Project and chief organiser of new space construction. A fair woman and dedicated to her work."

"Non... non... I'm sorry but I cannot let my son go just to get myself high on the list of people to be saved" Mallory insisted.

"What about them" Haley nodded towards Jeremie Leclerc's grandchildren as they marvelled over the dragons.

Mallory just stood silently and considered what future those children had on Earth. As she took a deep breath and sighed, Haley suddenly realised how powerful a weapon guilt could really be when used ruthlessly.

Not far away, the outfitting of the dragons continued at a feverish pace, with people hurrying everywhere. It seemed the only one going slow was Jeremie Leclerc, who was now limping his way towards the Dragon riders.

"Monsieur Blue, I would like see you out the back of my house if you please" he asked politely.

"Certainly" Blue agreed.

Taking care not to push Leclerc too quickly because of his injured foot, Blue tried to make pleasant conversation so as not to appear frustrated with the slow pace.

"May I ask how you hurt your foot?" he started off.

"Oh zis? It is such an embarrassing thing for a man such as myself, who has spent his entire life working with horses."

"Ah... I assume one trod on your foot then" Blue guessed.

"Massive bruising and two broken toes" Leclerc admitted "Fortunately Mallory was on hand to fly our local doctor out to treat my wounds. But now we must talk about you; I have been told many stories this day about your many exploits. Tell me Blue, is your sister really from Mars?"

"She is indeed sir" Blue nodded.

"And the kidnappers in North America?"

"Very true... unfortunately."

"I am also told that Lyon is not the only place you have had to defend yourselves from a frightened mob. Tell me honestly my boy; have you ever been forced to kill in defence?"

"Fortunately no sir, but I must admit that even dragon fire aimed at the ground can propel dirt and rocks in such a way as to cause injury. It weighs heavily on my mind that one day someone may be killed and I'm doing my best to avoid it, but we must defend ourselves."

"Oui oui" Jeremie agreed "and zis is why I have asked you to join me here; I would like you to meet Dieter Meyer, my son in law."

As they came to the back yard at last, Blue saw a tall smiling man holding two rapier blades, each with a cork on the tip.

"Oh, are you Jeanne's father?" Blue asked.

"No he is not, I have many children and many in-laws" Leclerc stated "After I heard of all the trouble you have encountered in your travels, I thought it would be advantageous for you to learn some defensive fencing."

"Guten morgen young man" Dieter nodded.

"Ah you are German" Blue smiled and offered his hand.

"Close, I am Austrian" the tall man corrected.

"Dieter will do his best to give you some basic knowledge in swordplay in the short time we still have together" Jeremie said in a very firm voice.

On Dieters direction, Blue stood in front of him with a rapier in his right hand, while he used his left arm for balance.

"Now don't try to touch me with your sword, just stop me from touching you" Dieter instructed.

As the tip of his opponents' blade pushed towards him, Blue's instant reaction was to jump back.

"Nein nein, with your sword; you try to touch me and I will show you."

Blue noticed Dieter did not take the balanced stance, but stood straight and upright with his sword at his side. Aiming for the centre of the Austrian man's chest, Blue thrust the point of the blade forward. Dieter did not move with supernatural speed, he merely lifted his arm and deflected Blue's attack to one side.

"Again!" the instructor ordered.

Blue tried to touch his instructor several more time, but each attempt was simply push left, right, or down.

"Notice I almost never deflect your attack up" Dieter pointed out "It can be done but you risk being struck in the face if you are too slow."

Time and again Blue tried to land his sword and failed, but he found the challenge to be quite enjoyable, and watching Dieter's movements was fascinating. After a few minutes, the pupil started to improve slightly and so the teacher widened his stance to compensate.

"Yes, keep going" Dieter encouraged.

And keep going they did until Blue realised he was expending far more energy that he had first realised and started to noticeably slow down.

"We will take a short break and when we resume, you will try to replicate what you have witnessed."

"I will try..." Blue panted "...but I won't promise anything."

'

* * *

'

**Hello again :)**

**I forgot to mention last time that it was Haley who assumed Hippopotamus translated as Horse-Potato, and Abigail who found the idea hilarious. **

**The cold weather is making a move on us but it's not too bad yet. Even so Boo Cat is spending more and more time hiding and sleeping in cosy places around the house and less outside.**

**Another thing I forgot to do last chapter was say hi to Tegan' and thanks again for reading this story. Shout outs of course to Vin, Draco38 and the Florida Guest, hoping you are all good and life is treating you well.**

**Au revoir mes amis, **_**Marty.**_


	57. Chapter 57

Chapter 57

By lunch time, the dragons had become so accustomed to all the people crowded around fussing over them, Calla actually feared they may not want to leave. It was is if they had found the perfect place for dragons and humans to reintegrate after a thousand years of separation. Once work had commenced, word had gone out to the rest of the Leclerc extended family so even more people had poured in to have the experience of seeing the dragons for themselves, and they were all soon been drafted into helping the more expert leather workers with their tasks. There were now so many offspring running about, that the adult workers had been forced to shoo away the smaller children who were always under foot, not to mention under dragon. Fortunately though the Terrible Terrors made very good playmates and babysitters; all except for Firefly who had been taken into the workshop by one of Jeremies more inventive sons.

As soon as Jeremie had returned from the rear of the farmhouse, he had made straight for Calla and steered her away from Windstorm to introduce her to one of his daughters.

"Calla my dear, zis is Collette" he told her "She is married to a very nice young man from Austria, and she has a few things to show you."

"But I..." Calla tried to say she was too busy.

"But nothing sweetie, you must come with me" Collette smiled as she half dragged the young Dragon Rider away.

"Now who is next?" Jeremie asked himself "Ah... the tall girl with the metal leg."

He had just spotted Haley returning from her short walk with Mallory, and had instantly decided she too needed his help.

""Excuse me my dear, but this old man has forgotten your name" Jeremie admitted.

"It's Haley sir" she answered.

"Of course Haley; a beautiful name for a beautiful woman."

"You really are French, aren't you?" Haley smiled.

"Of course, if course... now come with me."

Over at the Zippleback, Abigail and Gage were still sitting high in their saddles while more Leclercs took measurements of the dragon's chest. One bright young woman had pointed out that this particular dragon had a very broad flat body and could use some protection from ground fire.

"Gage, I would like to talk to you" Mallory called out.

It only took a whisper and a pat on the neck for Gage to get Ricky to lower him to the ground but when he tried to get off, Zippleback jealousy returned for a second round so Abigail had to dismount too, just to keep the dragons life in equilibrium.

"Oui Mama?" the boy answered when he was finally on the ground.

"I can promise you nothing, but when we get home your father and I will discuss this whole Dragon Rider idea, and you will abide by our decision; alright?"

"Er... oui Mama... merci Mama" the young boy could not stop his heart from beating faster.

Early in the afternoon, Blue and Calla finally returned and both were looking rather sore and tired.

"You wouldn't believe what I've been doing" Calla said to Blue as she rubbed her shoulder.

"Oh... I rather think I I would" Blue replied having noticed the woman accompanying Calla was carrying two fencing foils.

"I don't know about you, but I could use some lunch" Calla noted.

"Non non non, lunch will have to wait a little longer" Jeremie Leclerc declared as he to returned with Haley, who now sported some new accessories.

"Get a load of this lot" she smiled as she showed off the harness, cross strapped across her chest.

"I have had similar items made for the rest of you, so you must come for the fitting" Jeremie ordered.

Inside the workshop, Blue was presented with a type of vest he had never seen before. The front of the soft leather consisted of two inverted triangles; the left flap crossed the chest and was hooked just below the right shoulder then the right flap crossed the other was and was buckled down the left side. On the upper front, close to the left shoulder, was what appeared to be a long upside-down leather pocket with hooks on each side of the opening.

"What's this for" Blue asked.

"For this" Leclerc replied as he produced a small hunting knife.

"But I've already got a pocket knife" Blue shrugged.

"Pffft, pocket knife" Jeremie snorted "and what will you do when someone throw a rope around your dragon? Will you take out your little pocket knife you use to peel fruit, and spend half an hour trying to cut the rope and free the dragon? NON! You will take this and do the job in mere seconds. Based on what I have been told of your journey so far, you need to be better prepared for what faces you out there; each of your riders will also have a necessary tool such as this to carry on their person."

"I must admit, I like this" Calla said when she appeared wearing a cross strap similar to Haley's, but with shoulder guards where her knife was mounted.

"What about these little thingies? Blue asked about two eyelets hanging just below each hip.

"I have had hook straps sewn on to each side of your saddles. A horse only travels with its hooves on the ground, but a dragon can fly in any direction. These will help you stay firmly in place should you need to use a little finesse while you are flying."

"You've thought of everything Mister Leclerc" Calla grinned.

"I wish I could be sure that I had" Jeremie replied "Now you will send in the other young lady to receive her flying outfit."

"What about Gage?" Calla asked.

"What about him?" Jeremie shrugged.

"Didn't you see him on the Zippleback? He might be joining the Dragon Riders, if his Dad says it's okay" Calla answered.

"MON DEIU! WHY DOES NOBODY TELL ME THESE THINGS?" Leclerc threw up his arms and stormed outside.

As he left, one of the old man's many relatives came up holding Firefly.

"Where is Uncle Jeremie going? I needed to get his approval for this."

As soon as the little dragon saw Blue, he jumped out of the man's arms to greet his friend.

"Hey little buddy, what are you wearing?" Blue asked the dragon, but of course it was Jeremie's nephew who replied.

"We had the idea to fit zis little harness to your tiny dragon. It has the tube attached so he can carry the notes."

"Ah, Terror Mail; just like the Dragon Riders used to do" Blue smiled.

"You mean... it has been done before?' the poor man looked disappointed.

"Uh... no... I mean not for over a thousand years. It was very clever of you to rediscover this method on your own" Blue said encouragingly "I've done a lot of study on the old Dragon Riders of Berk, and I didn't even think of it."

"I suppose... but I really thought we'd come up with something original."

"Always remember though, we may be the first Dragon Riders you've ever seen, but we're far from being the first Dragon Riders. Nothing my friends and I are doing is new or original" Blue pointed out.

"Hmm... I guess you're right... merci" the man smiled and walked away.

'

* * *

'

"We're ready to power up the new section of the railgun Doctor Spencer."

"Alright people, let's take it slow; increments of 20% please" Sarah ordered.

"I hope this goes well Doctor" Sage remarked.

"I doubt it will, but we have to try and find any flaws in construction before we resume operations."

"Do you expect any delay to first launch?"

"No, we're slightly ahead of schedule so even if there are early maintenance issues, supply launches should still begin when the MTV is ready to receive them" Sarah said with confidence.

As the people in the control room watched the power gauge slowly climb, a very quiet alarm sounded but it was not from the monitoring equipment, it came from the pocket of April Dias.

"With your permission General?" April asked.

"Yes, go" Sage waved her off.

Sometimes there were unexpected advantages to being the mother of a small baby. Sage had become so accustomed to April's alarm notifying her it was feeding time for little Rose, he no longer cared to argue about her disappearances and was now letting her go to her rooms by herself. There were guards posted at all critical systems and at every exit, so he knew she could not commit any form of sabotage, but he did not know there was something else she could do.

"Hello Sue, was Rose good?" April asked her overqualified babysitter.

"She slept for about ninety minutes, but was a bit cranky when she woke up."

"I'm sure she's just hungry."

"Well I'd better get back to work" Sue shrugged "Those solid rocket motors won't refurbish themselves."

"Bye... and thanks again" April called out before locking the door to the corridor.

Picking up her baby, April sat on the couch and began feeding while waiting for the soft sound of someone sneaking though the air vent. It was such an old and clichéd method of keeping concealed, but April was surprised at how well it worked.

"Are you there yet Mrs. D?" a voice whispered.

"Yes Shifty, I'm here" April replied.

"Good; I don't want to hang around long in this pipe, it's really stuffy today."

"Oh, hang on Shifty."

April reached down to pick up a small remote control from the coffee table and pressed one of the buttons a few times.

"Okay I've lowered the thermostat in this room a few degrees, so you should feel a breeze soon."

"Thanks Mrs. D, you're a lifesaver" Shifty said with relief.

"Anything to report?" April asked.

"The good news is there is no bad news, and the bad news is there's no good news; things are pretty static outside."

"Okay then; keep your heads low and let me know if any ships arrive."

"Will do... er... can you tell me what you've got planed for Sage yet?"

"How many times do I have to tell you Shifty, there is no other plan than send Sage and his army to Mars, so we can get back to taking care of the people of Earth."

"Yeah yeah... I just think you're missing out on a great opportunity.'

"That's dangerous talk Shifty, so drop it" April insisted.

"If you say so... I'll talk to you in a few days... unless I have anything to report sooner."

"Thank you Shifty" April replied as the young man shuffled quietly off.

April hated having to lie to him, but then again she hated to lie to everyone. Except Sage of course, she enjoyed lying to him. April and Sarah knew it was safer if they confided in nobody, then there was little to no chance of the wrong person finding out.

It took Shifty close to an hour to make his way back to the point where the air vent turned up by forty five degrees and headed to the surface; here he found the rope that had previously been used to lower him down, attached to an old hessian sack. He placed one foot in the end loop rope, lay down onto the sack and tugged to signal his readiness to his friends on the surface. The rope soon went taught and he began to move up towards the bright daylight, two hundred meters above him.

Alvin Cloud Dancer, known to many as Shifty, had been one of the refugees to have fled El Centro California after the arrival of Neville Sage, and the murder of Prime Governor Redding. While most of his friends and neighbours had moved in to the Railgun Complex and been trapped when Sage's Raiders had followed them across the Pacific, several of the newcomers had hidden out in the jungle forest, roughly halfway between the complex and the town of Panjang.

After much hauling and sweating, Shifty's father Smit and his friend Gavin succeeded in retrieving the young man.

"Any word?" Gavin asked as soon as Shifty reached the surface.

"No Gavin, though I must admit I didn't ask."

"Why not?" Gavin gasped "You know Haley and the others should be back by now!"

"Of course; we all know they're late but we also know they got sidetracked."

"What I really want to know is why" Gavin stated.

"You're just afraid of the way Haley's father looks at you" Shifty said as he untangled his foot from the rope.

"Why is it always me Cid asks if there is any news of his daughter? That look of disappointment and anger he gives me when I say no, it scares the life out of me; he looks like he's about to tear out my heart and show it to me before I die."

"Don't be so melodramatic" Smit Cloud Dancer told the frightened Gavin "He only looks that way because he's worried about Haley; and besides, has he ever hit you before?"

"No... but there's always a first time" Gavin pointed out.

"Well you hang back at the rear and I'll tell him" Smit offered.

"Good... I'd like that" Gavin nodded as the three men walked off into the forest "What do you think is holding them up?"

"Maybe they had to fight of a giant sea monster" Shifty suggested while employing a very creepy voice.

"Yeah and maybe you're an idiot" Gavin replied.

"As his father, I can confirm your hypothesis" Smit nodded.

"... ... ... ... ...thanks a lot dad" Shifty sneered.

'

* * *

'

**Not sure if Shifty, Gavin, Smit and Cid are remembered, but they were characters from Calafornia in Red Sky Rising, and I had always planed to bring back.**

**I just realised how close we are to the end of the story with less than ten chapters left to go. All the more reason to get to work on the next one I suppose ;)**

**With the summer heat gone the grass has made a rapid return so it's out with the electric lawn mower so I can stage a counterattack; I just have to re-train myself not to run over the extension cord (ZAP, sizzle)**

**Back soon, **_**Marty.**_


	58. Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Late in the afternoon, the extended Leclerc family and the Dragon Riders shared a final meal together to celebrate the near completion of a job well done. This also gave everyone the chance to hear some of the stories about the Dragon Riders previous adventures. They started all the way back from when Calla literally fell into Blue's arms deep in the railgun, continuing on to their journey across space and across the world. Mallory in particular was strangely pleased to hear about Gran, and the problems the Dragon Riders had faced on the islands of the North Atlantic; not because she wanted the group to suffer, but because those stories meant it was not only the people of Lyon who had a bad attitude towards the dragons. Hopefully in the future, the testimony of the much respected Leclercs would make any future visits from the Dragon Riders much less confrontational.

After dinner, while she prepared her plane for the trip home, Blue took the opportunity to have a final talk with the man who had helped them so much.

"I guess we'll be saying goodbye soon Mr. Leclerc."

"Oui... it has been the most incredible day indeed" Jeremie nodded.

"I err... hope you don't mind me asking... but why did you go to so much trouble for us" Blue wondered "I was so pleased with the saddles but you and your family just kept on giving and giving."

"Ah... well... that is not an easy question to answer my boy" Jeremie said as he scratched his chin. "I suppose it all started with Mallory asking for a favour; I would do anything for her and Chance because they have helped me so much in the past with their little electric plane. Then came the excitement of working with such incredible creatures and it did not take long before I wanted to show off your dragons to my entire family; then I suppose we all got a little carried away. But even you, as someone who lives with dragons, must see what a monumental thing this is. And I am so pleased, overjoyed in fact, to play small part in this historical moment."

"I certainly would not call your role a small part" Blue corrected.

"Merci; it is good of you to say so" Jeremie bowed his head.

At that point, Mallory wandered over to say goodbye to her old friend.

"I'm heading back to Lyon Airport now as I want to get back before the sun gets too low."

"Of course my dear and thank you for all you've done today" Jeremie said and kissed her cheeks goodbye.

"Au revoir Blue, I will see you when you get back to the airport."

"See you soon" Blue nodded

After giving her son a goodbye kiss, Mallory boarded the plane and was soon away. When she were no longer in sight, Blue wandered back to where the other Dragon Riders were preparing to leave, only to find Dieter and Collette waiting with another gift for them.

"You and Calla have done very well during our brief training sessions, but it is very important that you continue to practice" Dieter insisted.

"And zat is why we have for you these two hardwood sparring longswords" Collette added.

"And for when you improve, you will need something more substantial; so here are the rapiers you trained with in magnetic scabbards" Dieter continued.

"Oh my goodness, these are wonderful" Blue said in awe "But what do you mean by magnetic scabbards?"

"Precisely what I said" Dieter smiled "Papa Jeremie had small magnets sewn into the spines of your jackets. Normally you would wear your scabbard on your belt, but while you are on your dragon, it would be best to have it attached to your back."

"Oh... makes sense" Blue agreed as he swung the sword around behind him.

With a slight slap, the magnets inside the scabbard drew themselves into the ones in Blues jacket, but he soon discovered a problem.

"I err... I can't get it off again" he admitted.

"Don't pull, twist" Collette laughed.

"Ah yes, that works" Blue agreed when the sword finally came away.

Calla was most pleased to receive her new sword, but there was something else that brought her even more joy as Blue discovered when he found her sitting in Windstorms saddle."

"Look at this Blue" she said, patting the right fender flap.

Seeing that she always kept her axe with her, Jeremie had repurposed a rifle scabbard to hold the axe safely while flying, as well as keeping it close at hand.

"You would have to be the most highly armed Dragon Rider of all time" Blue smile.

"When you're as short as I am, you need a lot of weapons" she replied jokingly.

"Is everyone ready to go" Blue called out to the other Dragon Riders.

Having received a positive response, Speedy and Windstorm led the other dragons into the air to the sounds of cheering from the Leclerc clan. Gage soon found out that piloting a dragon was quite different to simply being a passenger, but Abigail was able to keep the Zippleback on course while he slowly became accustomed to his new seat. As was now becoming their usual habit, all five Terrors soon settled down on the nearest convenient dragon or rider for a free ride as the Dragon Riders made their way south once more.

They were over half way back to Lyon when Calla noticed a crackled voice coming from her saddle bag.

"What's that noise?" Blue asked, having heard it too.

"It's that two-way radio Mallory gave me before we flew to the farm this morning; I forgot I still had it."

Calla reached behind her and pulled out the radio. Now that it was no longer being muffled by the saddlebag, the Dragon Riders could hear her quite clearly.

"Allo... allo... can you hear me Calla? Do not return to the airport; I repeat, do not return to the airport."

"Hello Mallory? We read you; what's wrong?" Calla spoke into the radio.

"Your dragons are in danger, mob at airport say they're not welcome here" Mallory reported.

"What do you want us to do?" Calla asked "Should we go back to Mister Leclerc?"

"Can I speak to Gage please?"

"Uh sure; hold on a minute."

Calla looked over at the Zippleback and realised if she flew too close, the wings of her Nadder would interfere with wind flow and cause trouble, so she checked to see if her saddle hooks were properly fastened before rolling Windstorm over on her back and approaching Gage upside down.

"Here take this, your Mom wants to speak with you" she said as she held out the radio.

"Allo Mama, Gage here" the young boy called.

"Gage, things are not good here for the Dragon Riders. Do you still want to go with them?"

"Oui Mama, I do; are you saying I can?"

"I have placed a backpack with some of your things at the southern end of the main runway. You should be able to pick it up and leave before anyone here can do anything about it. Tell Blue that no matter what, none of you should come back to the hangers; there are people waiting for him."

"Oui Mama, he heard you" Gage confirmed.

"Au revoir pour le moment mon fils; fais attention."

"What did she say?" Abigail asked when she noticed Gage sniff and wipe his eyes.

"She said goodbye for now my son, be safe."

"We'll do our best to make sure of that" Blue said with determination "Okay then; Calla and I will fetch the bag and Haley will take the rest of the dragons slightly to the east. We'll join you as soon as we're done."

"Roger that" Haley nodded.

As Boris led a Gronckle, a Zippleback and five freeloading Terrors away from Lyon, Calla and Blue continued on.

"I assume you have the binoculars from the Star Runner" Blue checked with Calla.

"Sure do" she replied and reached into her right saddlebag.

"Good; take a look and tell me what you see."

"Uh... I can see over a dozen people down there, but I can't tell who's who" Calla reported.

"Well we know four people who should be there, so it sounds like Mallory and Chance are outnumbered" Blue noted "Does it look like they're fighting?"

"Err... no... they're just standing around... probably arguing."

"Okay, good; if they're not in danger, I guess we'd better follow Mallory's advice and just grab the backpack and go."

"Are you sure about this?" Calla asked.

"Am I ever? But I think we could make things worse if we dive in with dragons blazing. I'll go get the parcel while you keep an eye out. Let me know if anything looks wrong. Is the bag in the clear?"

"There's nobody at that end of the airport at all; go for it Babe."

Down on the ground, the Lyon posse continued to ignore Chance and Mallory's requests to leave and go home, for they had convinced themselves that the dragons would surely return. Seeing Mallory's plane leading the dragons north that morning, had made everyone suspicious of her. As they stood their ground, they suddenly noticed the sound of a high pitched whine growing louder and louder. Looking up into the sky they saw a black streak falling to Earth at a steep angle.

"C'EST UN DRAGON" one of them shouted and they all readied their weapons and ran.

It was nothing more than a fool's errand for by the time they had reached the east corner of the hanger, the dragon had levelled out halfway down the runway, come to a stop at the south end, and taken to the sky once more continuing south never to be seen again.

"Good boy Speedy" Blue congratulated his proud Night Fury.

"He's definitely got a real advantage when it comes to high speed manoeuvres" Calla noted as she and Windstorm came alongside.

"Yeah that's one of the advantages of having several different kinds of dragon" Blue added "We get to take advantage of each of their individual abilities."

"What are Nadders good at?" Calla asked.

"Well I read that Astrid's Nadder Stormfly was able to move through forests with such stealth, you wouldn't know she was stalking you until she was sitting on you."

"Cool; Windstorm and I will have to practice doing stuff like that" Calla grinned.

A few minutes later, Blue and Calla met up with the other riders and continued southeast.

"What now?" Abigail asked.

"There are some islands off the south coast of France I think we should head for" Gage offered. "Some of the smaller ones are uninhabited so we can spend the night there without being disturbed."

"Good idea Gage, let's do it" Blue agreed.

They few on for over an hour before reaching the coast, so it was well and truly dark by the time they found a good spot, coming in to land with only the light of the moon to guide them. The Dragon Riders made good use of their Terrors as lanterns to light their way while they made a circle of stones, although the Gronckle did steal a few of them to chew on. Then after gathering some dead wood to make a fire, they set up camp for the night and got ready to sleep. Lucy and Ricky were the only dragon to object to having their saddles removed, but with Abigail and Gage doing their best to comfort the two headed beast, Blue and Calla were able to eventually complete the task.

Being too dark to go fishing, they decided to settle down for the night and try for an early breakfast the next morning. By the time they were ready to hit their bed rolls, the fire had started to die down so Blue went off to gather more wood.

"Hey, come here" Calla insisted as she followed him.

"What's up?" Blue asked.

"Just this" Calla answered as she grabbed him and kissed him.

"Wow... was that for anything in particular?"

"I don't know if you remember, but earlier today Gage came up to you and asked if you were the leader of the Dragon Riders; do you remember what you said?"

"Erm... I assume I said yes" Blue tried to recall.

"Not quite, you said yes we are. You may not have realised it at the time, but being included meant a lot to me" Calla admitted.

"Are you sure? Maybe I was just trying to shift the blame onto you for all the mistakes I've made."

"Anyone in your situation would make mistakes, but somehow you've managed to muddle through and keep them all to a minimum" Calla added.

"Well... I've relied on the rest of you to help me."

"And that is what makes you a leader and worth following."

"Funny thing is, do you know who has impressed me the most?" Blue asked.

"I assume this time you are not going to say it's me" Calla guessed.

"You do impress me and so does Haley, but Abby... she is the only one who hasn't spent her life on Earth. She's had to come to terms with all the same challenges as the rest of us, while at the same time getting used to being on what is effectively an alien planet, without all the comforts and technology she's accustomed to. And I think she's been doing an incredible job."

"Of course she has; she's a Dias and they can do anything" Calla smiled and squeezed his hand.

"Almost as much as a Linwood" Blue added as they headed back, forgetting the wood they had gone out for.

End of Act 3

'

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'

**And so in the next few days, we will start the last leg of the story.**

**I do have some allergies Vin but they are always very minor, and usually don't hit till around October when spring hits; which is also when the magpies get vicious.**

**Keep safe everyone, **_**Marty.**_


	59. Chapter 59

Blue Sky Falling

Act 4

Chapter 59

Blue was woken up very early the next morning by a rather unpleasant smell. He opened his eyes to fine the Terrors had already gone to fetch their breakfast, and there was now a small pile of fish not far away from his nose, along with five small dragons waiting expectantly.

"You guys used to eat your fish raw; don't you remember?"

Blue roused the other Dragon Riders, who mostly just ignored him, and sent off the larger dragons to feed themselves. After tending to fire and fish, he sat down and leaned back on his saddle, removing his map from one of the saddlebags.

"How far do you think we'll go today?" Calla asked as she finally stirred.

"Well if you take into account the dragons have been out of their hidden underground caverns for a considerable time now, and are gradually getting used to flying long distances, I would hope we could make Greece by the end of the day if we can find a good tailwind."

"How far is that?"

"About fifteen hundred kilometres" Blue replied.

"You're kidding!" Calla gasped "It would have to be a tailwind of extraordinary magnitude."

His first night away from home had been rather uncomfortable for Gage, but he eventually arose when the aroma of freshly cooked fish made his mouth water. Blue wasted no time in getting their gear stowed as soon as everyone had eaten and by the time the sun had started to rise in the east, the Dragon Riders were already flying into it. Knowing how unpredictable a strong wind could be, Calla had suggested each rider take a Terror inside their jacket or saddlebag so they wouldn't be separated. This was fine for Rollo, who loved to snuggle himself away and sleep, but the others were a little restless at first until the dragons got well above the clouds. As the air started to thin, they all realised it was far easier to be tucked up as passengers, than it was to hang on to a Gronckles saddle by the tips of their claws.

"Blue... I'm beginning to feel a little woozy" Abigail called out.

"Everyone take deep breaths and make sure your saddle hooks are all secure; hopefully we shouldn't have to go too much higher" Blue encouraged them.

"But how much can the dragons themselves take?" Haley asked.

"Windstorm seems to be doing okay" Calla offered.

"I'm not really sure how high dragons can fly, but even though they're not really reptiles, they do have a lot of reptilian in them so I'm hoping they may be able to just slow their heart rates and glide" Blue responded.

"We'll soon find out I suppose" Gage shrugged.

"You doing okay Gage?" Blue asked.

"A little cold, a little scared, but apart from that I'm just fine" the young man smiled.

"Blue... look down; isn't that the island we spent last night on?" Calla pointed out.

"Yes we moved into a head wind about five minutes ago, so we have to try and go higher."

One of the odd things about flying in a strong wind, is if the air movement is steady and not erratic, it can feel no different to flying in a light breeze. So the dragons were happily flying along at a relative wind speed, while slowly going backwards. The Dragon Riders continued to follow Blues climbing directive to climb until they started getting buffeted by sudden squall bursts from all directions.

"We're crossing into a new layer" Blue called to the riders "Hold on tight and keep going up."

It was a rough ride for a few minutes but then, just as the buffeting had slowly built up, it once again started to slowly dissipate, and they were gliding free once more.

"Everyone, look down!" Abigail pointed.

They all barely caught sight of their island once again before it soon disappeared behind them.

"Hey we're going the right way at last" Calla laughed.

"And rather rapidly too" Abigail noted.

"Okay everyone; stop talking, settle down, breath deep and keep a close eye on your dragons. If they look like they can't handle the altitude, let me know and we'll go lower" Blue ordered.

"And keep an eye on each other too" Calla added.

"Yeah, what she said" Blue agreed.

Altitude sickness was not something to be taken lightly, but the Dragon Riders did have the advantage of not having to push themselves like a mountain climber woould. Ever since they had left the ground, they had all been sitting peacefully in their saddles. They wore every piece of warm clothing they possessed, and those who didn't have hoods or skull caps, wrapped scares around their heads.

The dragons appeared to be having no trouble at all, and even their Gronkle just continued to buzz along like a big round hummingbird taking full advantage of the wind at his back. After a few hours of watching Speedy, Blue suddenly noticed he had his left eye closed. A half hour later he saw the left one open the right one close. He looked around at the other dragons and saw that each one was also flying along with only one eye open at a time. Here was something new he had not seen in the Book of Dragons, or any of the other Berk writings. Just like some other animals, dragons could rest half their brain while the other side stayed alert. This was a truly amazing discovery; if the riders could endure, the dragons could effectively keep flying twenty four hours a day, only needing to take the occasional meal break. With this knowledge, he now intended to see how far he could push his fellow riders while trying not to endanger them.

'

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'

It was often hard to tell what kind of mood General Neville Sage was currently in without speaking to him first, and by then it was usually too late. Today though was one of those rare times when everyone knew he was in a good mood and it was making the entire Launch Control Room quite nervous. Every person in the room knew that it would only take one unexpected problem to make this a very bad day.

Today was going to be a very bad day.

"Good morning Major. It's been months since we last spoke without the inconvenience of time delay" Sage smiled.

"Good morning Commander; MTV is standing by and ready to receive cargo capsules, and will be in position for first launch widow in seventeen minutes."

There wasn't any hint of pleasantry in Luis Dias's voice, which did not come as any surprise to Sage at all; the current captain of the MTV even refused to refer to Sage as general.

"I'm looking forward to seeing you again and renewing our friendship during the trip to Mars" Sage pushed for a reaction.

"Oh... yes... it's going to be a laugh a minute" Luis said with obvious undertones of sarcasm.

"Luis, it's Doctor Spencer here. We've got three supply capsules lined up at the end of the railgun and if all goes smoothly we'll launch them at two minute intervals. Are you ready to receive computer docking link information?"

"Standby... okay Doctor, computer is ready to receive" Luis answered.

The information transfer went on without a hitch for several minutes; the procedure was so much easier now they could talk with the MTV. During the fifteen years of lockdown and radio silence, the mission control room would often have to keep sending the information over and over until the MTV's computer sent a confirmation signal pulse. Now they were at last ready to launch, knowing that once the base computer had guided the capsules into low Earth orbit, the MTV could then take over for autonomous docking.

"First launch minus two minutes, power flow nominal" one of the technicians reported

"Capacitors at 20% and climbing" another added "new sectors all showing green, now at forty... ABORT ABORT ABORT!"

"What's wrong?" Sarah asked as the whole room, including Sage, suddenly got very tense.

"Major short at L-47" the answer came.

"L-47? But that's not one of the new sectors" Sarah looked confused.

"What's happening Doctor?" A very annoyed Sage demanded to know as his two guards stepped forward and readied their weapons.

"I don't know yet; can we get it up on camera?"

"Sorry Doctor Spencer, all power is down from L-47 all the way back to the end of the railgun."

"Do something Doctor" Sage growled insistently.

Without acknowledging the angry man, Sarah barked rapid orders to her people.

"Shut down all power to the railgun and run a full diagnostic, have a maintenance team meet me at the work tram in two minutes and notify the MTV of the delay; do you want to come along General?"

Undomesticated equines could not stop Neville Sage and his guards from accompanying Doctor Spencer on this investigation. Not only did he desperately want to know what had gone wrong, but he also did not want to give Sarah the opportunity to cover up any signs of sabotage. The tunnel tram was built to transport four technicians along with parts and tools, but with Sage and his party in the mix, they were only able to take two electrical engineers along; one crammed into the tool section and one standing on the rear step while holding on for his life. The journey to the end of the tunnel, many kilometres below the surface, took far longer than anyone was comfortable with considering the cramped conditions, but things eventually got far worse.

"What on earth is that smell?" Sage asked.

"It's weird how it seems to change from barbeque to cesspool" one of the guards noted.

"Oh no... I think I know what it is" Sarah sighed.

"A Macaque?" the engineer in the tool section asked.

"Or some other animal" Sarah agreed.

"Are you trying to tell me that smell is some kind of monkey?" Sage asked sceptically.

"Not anymore" Sarah replied "It's a rare occurrence but we have had Macaques fall down one of the air shafts in the past. Mostly they just jump around screaming, and we've even had a few find their way up the tunnel and cause all sort of havoc inside the complex, but I'd guess that this one started climbing up the cables and got fried when we turned the power on. The capacitors hold a charge of ten million watts at twelve thousand volts; so the last time this happened, the Macaque literally exploded."

"That's it, stop the tram" Sage ordered "We're going back and you can send a full team to clean up and fix this mess. And I want a full report of how long repairs will take in one hour."

Everyone was more than pleased when the tram started back up again, even the engineers. Although they both knew they would have to go back down later, at least they could go in hazmat suits with their own air supply next time.

'

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'

"I must admit I'm getting hungry, but we are making good time" Calla admitted.

After several hours of flying, Blue was once more checking on the condition of the riders. Abigail and Gage said they had passed the time by trying to work out where they were based on what they could see far below them, and Haley had admitted to occasionally dozing in the saddle. As for the dragons, they just kept going and going with no apparent ill effects.

"I've noticed my hands are feeling a little tingly from the low air pressure, how are yours?" Blue asked.

"Err... well... a bit puffy" Calla replied.

"Okay that does it, we've stayed up long enough; okay everyone, let's start heading down."

Their descent went smoothly at first but they soon encountered the same opposing wind currents they had encountered during their ascent, but much worse. The buffeting only went on for about thirty seconds though, because the dragons ended up tumbling down through the rough layer, unable to keep steady. The riders saddle hooks kept them firmly in place and the dragons were able to regain control as soon as they were through the worst of it.

"Ugh... I feel sick now" Abigail said, turning a little green.

"Was it my imagination, or was that time worse than this morning?" Haley asked.

"I thought so too" Blue responded "The wind speed must have picked up during the journey. I guess we didn't notice because we were inside of it."

"So where are we?" Calla asked as they continued to glide down.

"I don't know" Blue replied "I was hoping to have made it to Italy by now but it looks pretty dry down there. We may have been blown a little further south which would put us over North Africa, possibly Tunisia. I suppose the best thing to do would be to look for a road sign."

Rather than dive down, Blue and Speedy led the dragons on a long slow glide until ground features started to come into clearer view. Desert tracks were numerous but Blue needed something more substantial, which came in the form of a four lane highway going north and south through some overgrown farmland. The Dragon Riders turned to follow the road south until they spotted an old sign showing destinations and distances. By the time they saw it, they had passed it so they pulled their dragons around to the north and came in to land twenty meters from the sign.

"Okay let's see what we got" Blue said s he remover him map from his saddle bag.

Speedy went off to play with the Terrors and the Gronckle while Boris and Windstorm stayed close to their riders, and Lucy and Ricky just lay down and dozed off.

"Zeytinli, four kilometres, Gaziantep, thirteen kilometres" Blue read from the sign.

He folded the map so the appropriate area showed, spread the map on the ground and began to search for the names on the signs.

"Can't find anything in Tunisia" Blue said as he started to check Algeria and Libya.

As he searched, Calla noticed here was information on both sides of the sign; so she walked around to see what was further to the south.

"Err... Blue... you may want to come and look at this" she suggested.

Blue got up and wandered over to join Calla, looked up and read the other side.

"Syrian border thirty one kilometres... ... ...SYRIA?! That means we must be..." Blue quickly re-checked the map "...in south central Turkey."

"Turkey, how did we get to Turkey?" Haley asked "That's almost two thousand kilometres from where we were this morning."

"We must have been higher than I thought and caught the lower edge of one of the jet streams" Blue realised.

"So where do we go from here?" Abigail wondered.

After checking the map one more time, Blue gave them a very basic answer.

"Okay there's a river about twenty klicks east of here, so I suggest we go there and let the dragons feed while I work out a new route."

And so poor Speedy had to cease his frolicking, and the Zippleback had to wake up for one more short journey of the morning.

'

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**Right now I am trying to work out what the next story in this series will be, and where will the characters end up? There are so many possibilities so I'm thinking of changing the whole flow by moving away from basing most of the story around the Dias family, although they will still play a big part, and instead having stories concentrating on various characters.**

**In the same way that some of my previous stories have had several Acts that would contain a specific part of the overall story, it may be possible to have different sections in the next tale that would be between 5 to 20 chapters in length. These sections would tell the individual stories of different areas on the Earth, the new direction of Mars, and the growth of the space colonies. Previous stories had to bring their individual arcs to a conclusion, but there seems to be no reason to do this next time. There can still be closure in a story without having to come to an absolute stop. After all, more stories end with "And they all lived happily ever after" rather than "And they all eventually grew old and died"; the first being open ended as life went on, while the second brings the tale to a grinding halt.**

**In the long run it will be interesting to find out if I can work this way, and what the results will be.**

**May life give you lots of Night Furys and very few Changewings, **_**Marty.**_


	60. Chapter 60

Chapter 60

Finding a deserted part of the river proved to be no problem; the Dragon Riders had not seen any sign of a settlement since they had come back down to Earth and as Blue poured over the map, he could see why. Between the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean, the land had many large fresh water lakes and dams that would make much better places to live. So as the dragons and riders took a post meal nap near the water, Blue tried to plot a new route for their next leg.

"Do you know how fast we were going up in that jet stream? I worked it out." Haley said proudly as she approached.

"I'd guess about three hundred and sixty kilometres an hour, maybe as high as three eighty" Blue replied.

"Oh... you do know; I was gonna say between three fifty and four hundred. How were we able to go so fast?"

"Well it's all relative" Blue explained "If we were flying at about eighty kilometres an hour, and the wind at our backs was travelling at about three hundred, the combined speed was three eighty but it only felt like eighty to us."

"Will we be able to do that all the way back?" Haley asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately no; we can't keep going due east, we have to divert to the south east now. We'll fly down to the Persian Gulf this afternoon and spend the night on one of the uninhabited islands off the coast of Kuwait."

"Do you want me to get the other riders off their butts so we can get going?" Haley asked with an evil grin on her face.

"Nah... they deserve another ten minutes."

'

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'

The next leg of the journey passed without incident and they managed to find several good sized sandy islands and atolls about twenty kilometres off the coast of Kuwait; so they picked one and settled in for the night. The weather was warm so there was no need of a fire, and they were pleased to have a cooling breeze blow in off the water.

The Dragon Riders lifted off again at first light and continued their long journey south while down in West Sumatra, the railgun technicians were almost ready to take another stab at resuming supply launches. The unenviable task of removing monkey remains had been completed the previous day, making it possible for the electrical relay systems to be worked on overnight. So with the MTV's orbital path about to bring it back around into the right position, pre-flight checks had resumed over an hour ago.

"I hope you realise a second failure would be not be taken lightly" Sage warned.

"Believe me General, I knew the first failure wouldn't be taken lightly the very second it happened" Sarah replied "We've all done our best and so now its fingers crossed for the next attempt."

Sage was tempted to say something threatening about breaking some fingers, but even he knew not to cause more tension during the already stressful launch procedures.

"MTV will be in launch window in two minutes Doctor Spencer" one of the technicians reported.

"Okay let's power it up... again" Sarah ordered.

"Capacitors at 20% and climbing, all lights green... including L-47... 53% and climbing."

"MTV here" the radio crackled with Luis's voice "Computer synced with ground systems."

"100% and all green" the reports continued "MTV twenty seconds to window, first launch at plus one. Opening railgun exit doors... exit doors green... three... two... one."

The entire complex began to softly vibrate as the first supply capsule rapidly accelerated up the tunnel. Up on the surface, a series of small dust clouds began shooting out of the exhaust vents near the beach, and continued on inland until a different sound was emitted from the top of the mountain some forty kilometres away. It sounded like a short burst from a Gatling gun constructed from the cannons of a World War II battleship, even though such a device was a physical impossibility.

"First capsule away, capacitors charging for second launch" the technician reported.

"So far so good General" Sarah dared to smile.

"Keep up the good work Doctor, and perhaps you'll..."

"MTV computer has control of first capsule" Luis reported.

"Confirmed MTV; second launch in one minute thirty seven" Sarah replied "Sorry General, you were saying."

"I was saying you may just come out of this alive" Sage gave his best smiling scowl.

'

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'

For three days the launches continued every time the MTV was in the correct orbital position to make the appropriate rendezvous, while the Dragon Riders continued on their journey; avoiding any place they may find people. Once they had returned to Sumatra and made contact, there would be plenty of time to circle the globe and spread the word about both the dragons and the recommencement of the Earth evacuation, but for now they all they wanted to was get home spend some time with friends and family.

On what they hoped would be their last night away, the Dragon Riders set down in a small clearing next to the Galathea River on Great Nicobar Island roughly an hour before the sun was due to set.

"Only seven hundred kilometres to go" Blue said as he checked his map.

"Only seven hundred? ONLY?" Abigail laughed.

"Yeah okay maybe you're right, but we should be back in Sumatra by early afternoon if we fly all morning."

"Just as well, I don't think I could take another full day in the saddle" Gage admitted.

"As much as I love being a Dragon Rider, I must agree; it will be nice to have a day off" Calla nodded.

Having finished unpacking Speedy, Blue turned his attention to the Gronckle, removing his saddle and bestowing a few compliments.

"Once again you've done a great job today" Blue smiled as he scratched the beasts chin "I don't know what those lazy little Terrors would do without you."

Some of the Terrors in question sat nearby but fortunately for Blue, they did not have any idea of what he'd said about them. With all the dragons now unburdened, Blue stood with the Gronckle saddle in his hands and watched them all wander off to the river. Even now the sight of them all together made him feel very small; it felt odd that such noble creatures would even bother to give humans a second glance.

"Aren't they wonderful" Calla said as she slipped her arm around Blue's waist.

"Amazing" Blue agreed "I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever get used to having them."

Haley was halfway through getting her bed roll set out when she noticed Blue and Calla staring off into the distance. She stood up smiled to herself, and decided to give them a little assistance.

"Okay I need two volunteers to help me amass a considerable amount of firewood; you and you" she pointed to Abigail and Gage.

"I didn't volunteer" Gage protested.

"Yes you did, now MOVE IT!" Haley insisted.

With the campsite now almost empty, Calla took the Gronkle saddle from Blue and placed it on the ground nearby.

"It's nice to have a little snuggle now and then" Blue admitted when she returned and hugged him.

"Considering we are usually surrounded by dragons and the other riders, it was nice of Haley to give us the opportunity" Calla added.

"Home tomorrow, so I guess we'll have to show some discretion around your parents" Blue realised.

"Then I suggest we make the most of the time we have now" Calla blushed as she lifted her lips to meet his.

The carefree sound of splashing dragons drifted up from the river as the young couple took advantage of this rare moment of privacy, until a few minutes later when the rumble of a distant shockwave shook the ground beneath them.

"Wow!" Calla gasped "I thought we had to do a lot more than kiss to make the earth move."

"That was a meteorite" Blue replied with concern.

"Yeah I know; it was just a joke" Calla shrugged.

"But I don't think it was an atmospheric explosion, it must have fallen into the sea somewhere between here and Sri Lanka."

"So what; it's over now and we're a long way from the coast."

"But there are no hills or mountains between us and the sea" Blue pointed out "We've got to get out of here now."

"You sure?" Calla leapt up.

"Positive; HALEY, ABBY, GAGE, GET TO YOUR DRAGONS" Blue called out.

Calla ran down to the river to call Windstorm while Blue started throwing loose items into backpacks and saddle bags. He was sure he had put a lot of the riders gear into the wrong bags but he figured they could sort it all out later.

"I assume this about that big bang we heard" Haley said as she led the firewood patrol back into camp.

"Sure is; saddle up, we're leaving" Blue insisted.

Fortunately the riders had become quite adept at fitting their saddles over the last few days, so their work progressed quickly. Firefly and the other Terrors had noticed something in the air quite early and had flown off to see what they could find. All the riders noticed the bigger dragons were getting a little fidgety as well, and wanted nothing more than to be off the ground.

"Everybody ready?" Blue asked as he mounted Speedy's saddle.

"Almost" Gage replied as he threw on his backpack and joined Abigail up on their Zippleback.

Calla and Haley were not far behind while the Gronckle was already hovering high overhead. Just before they all lifted off, the five Terrors retuned crying out in warning. A second later, all dragons were airborne and in the fading light of evening, the Dragon Riders could see all the water had drained from the west coast.

"Oh that's not a good sign" Calla said, knowing the missing ocean would soon be back with great force.

"BLUE; LOOK NORTH!" Abigail cried out.

All the riders followed her instruction and were dismayed to see the light from several torches moving inland through the forest.

"There are people down there" Haley gasped.

"Quick, follow me" Blue ordered as he turned Speedy around to the right.

"What do we do?" Gage asked, slightly panicked.

"Pick a light, fly down and grab whoever you find" Calla replied.

It did not need to be said that they were all worried, because there were more torch lights than there were dragons. Being the fastest, Speedy was naturally the first on the scene and swooped down behind a woman carrying a child.

"Careful Bud, don't hurt the kid" Blue warned.

Working with fine precision, Speedy wrapped his front claws around the woman's shoulders and under her arms, lifting her into the air. Needless to say there was a lot of screaming and yelling in a language Blue did not recognise. Up ahead Blue saw Lucy and Ricky pick up one person each before depositing them on her back. Boris managed to get one in each talon while Windstorm placed one person onto the Gronckle before sweeping around to pick up another.

"Okay let's get to higher ground" Blue ordered and led the way.

It only took a few minutes to fly northeast to a much higher area, but it felt like much longer with all the screaming and crying from their terrified passengers. It took a while for everyone to calm down, even after the dragons had set them all down together on the top of a hill. Of course they would have been pleased to be safe, but they were all still in shock over what had just happened. For now there would be no explanation because as soon as they were down, the dragons had flown off to the southwest again to pick up another human load.

"Do you hear that?" Abigail called over the obvious rumbling coming from the west.

"The water is moving inland fast" Calla said "We don't have much time."

The sun had now fully set, leaving the Dragon Riders to work in the dark. They could still see several torches moving down amongst the trees, so at least they had something to aim for.

"Quick as you can" Blue suggested as he and Speedy went into a dive.

Blue heart suddenly leapt up into his throat when he suddenly saw two of the lights go out, quickly followed by a third as the rushing water caught up with the people down below."

"It's now or never Bud" he told the dragon as they swooped in for another pick up.

With another screaming person safely lifted out of the path of the surging aquatic death, Blue and Speedy headed back to the hill where they had dropped the previous group. As they approached, the torch lights from the first group showed the Dragon Riders where to go and they all soon landed nearby.

"We only got one this time" Gage said in a broken voice.

"You did better than me" Calla added clearly close to tears "We just couldn't see any one when the water hit."

Boris had managed to get one more making a total of three on the second run, meaning ten all up were saved. Now that the dragons were back, the rescued group all ran off in fear, leaving the Dragon Riders alone.

"I wonder how many we failed to save?" Calla asked rhetorically, her voice just a whimper.

"We did our best... and I'm proud of all of you" Blue told the riders.

"Doesn't help the ones we didn't get to in time" Haley replied, also obviously upset.

"That's probably why I don't feel particularly proud at the moment" Abigail admitted.

"Seeing those lights extinguish... I don't think I'll ever be able to forget that sight" Gage added.

"No... I don't think any of us will" Blue sighed "Right then... take care of your dragons and... let's try and get some sleep.

"Getting to sleep may be easier said than done" Haley admitted.

The riders made sure to give their dragons lots of attention as they removed their saddles once more and got ready to bed down. They way they had all risen to the unexpected emergency was more than impressive, indeed Blue thought it was astounding. The Terrors helped start a small camp fire to give them light to work by, and they were all ready to try and sleep. Blue hoped Calla would set up her camp roll close by so they could talk before drifting off, but she stayed close to her Nadder and almost seemed to be ignoring him.

Blue made the decision not to be offended or worried by her distance because he knew deep down what she was feeling, and of course it had been a very stressful day.

'

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**This is the week Marty goes off the deep end.**

**Caution; the following author note contains an offensive word (sorry)**

**I saw a post online a few days ago from a medical worker, who had arrived home to find her young daughter had written something in chalk on the sidewalk outside their home. It read "A hore lives here."**

**Needless to say she was shocked but soon found out the little girl had just got her letters mixed up and had meant to write "A hero lives here." **

**While this could be seen as just an amusing story about kids making unintended mistakes, it solidified in me a belief I've had for a few years; true heroes deserve our help and assistance.**

**A few years ago I was listening to the radio in my bus and heard a report in the news about people who had good jobs but were unable to move forward in life. It spoke of a class of person who would leave higher education as a young adult with good qualifications, would go straight into work in their chosen career, work until retirement age, and never be in a position to own their own home. The top two professions on this list were Nurse and School Teacher.**

**All over the world we are sending messages of thanks to medical professionals for the work they are doing and the risks they are taking but when the current crisis is over, will the world go back to ignoring them while the powerful people say these essential workers can't have a raise in pay?**

**A recent YouTube post from Sandi Toksvig posed the question "What would you do with an enormous fortune?" Well I had already worked that out; I would create a lending institution to give interest free mortgages to teachers and nurses (and others too) with repayments at a lower rate than their current rent. This would save the average family one to two hundred thousand dollars and as they payed off their homes, the money would then be used to proving more home loans to more people at no interest.**

**Am I some kind of crazy idealist? No doubt about it but I've felt this way for several years and it has encouraged me to live simply and do my best to get out of debt, so I can stop giving my spare cash to the bank to pay interest on loans and credit cards; when that is done and I am debt free, I can do something more useful with my money. I know my bank thinks giving them a regular income is useful but I'm afraid I do not agree with them.**

**Yeah... I know I'm weird, **_**Marty.**_


	61. Chapter 61

Chapter 61

Calla didn't really sleep that night, she only dozed occasionally. Early the next morning she lay on her back with her hands behind her head, staring at the stars in the black sky and thinking about what she had seen and experienced both out there in space, and back here on Earth. Suddenly she noticed the sky turn to the darkest grey; and so realising it would be light soon, she rose up and snuck over to her dragon.

"Windstorm... wake up girl" she whispered.

"Rrrr" the Nadder gave a low moan.

"Shhhh... quiet girl, we're going for a little ride.

Moving slowly and silently, Calla carefully fitted her dragon's saddle and bridle before getting up into her seat.

"Okay girl, as quietly as you can."

The dragon lifted off with only a gentle whoosh, but it was wasn't noiseless enough to go unnoticed.

"Come on Speedy, let's follow her" Blue said as he reached for his own saddle.

Calla and Windstorm flew southwest towards the sea, looking down on the devastation that had been hidden from the eyes of the Dragon Riders by the darkness of the previous night. What had once been a dense forest was now a mass of half flattened trees with all kinds flotsam now filling the waters of Casuarina Bay. It did not take long for her to spot the first body and within a few minutes, she had seen several more.

"Why are you doing this to yourself?" Blue asked as he and Speedy pulled alongside.

"What are you doing here? Can't you leave me alone for two seconds?" Calla barked.

"Of course I can; I just don't want too" Blue replied.

Although she did not want to talk about it, Calla felt a kind of heaviness inside and she knew it was causing her current mood swing. Blue could sense something was wrong, but he could also tell she did not want to talk about it. On top of everything else, Calla started to feel guilty; Blue must think she didn't trust him enough to talk about her feelings, but she knew deep down she was just hesitant to appear weak. Calla had rarely shown her vulnerable side to anyone, but on the rare occasions when she had, she had always felt like she had let everybody down afterwards, and they must think less of her. Of course this was not true and all in her own mind, but that did not diminish the fear she felt and it was still a very difficult thought to live with. And so Calla stayed quiet a little longer and the pair just flew on down the coast in silence for a short time.

"You've certainly changed since yesterday" Blue unwisely pushed her.

"Yesterday was a mistake" Calla declared "People were in danger and all I could do was make out with my boyfriend."

"Hey, when we were preparing to leave the island, none of us knew there were other people in the area; so you can't blame yourself."

"People are dead Blue, and maybe we could have saved more if we'd been quicker."

"To be any quicker, we would have to keep the dragons constantly saddled and always ready to fly; and you know we can't do that to them, it would be cruel."

Calla went quiet again, so Blue let her be again for a few more minutes. Eventually the silence got too loud for her and she finally she relented, deciding to share more about her past life with him.

"When I was a kid in New Zealand, we had a few waves just like the one that hit last night. When I was six I got to see the first of them from the hills where we lived; it was frightening but spectacular and when it was over, Emerson and I went down to find what had washed up on shore.

But when I was eight another one came while Dad and I were down on the dock fishing. The meteor must have hit many hundreds of kilometres away because we didn't hear much, but Dad knew what it meant when the seawater started to recede. He just threw his rod down and pulled me onto me feet and we ran. There were other people there too, friends and neighbours, and Dad shouted for them to run too. But they all stopped to pack up their fishing gear; whereas the only thing Dad picked up was me when I stumbled."

The young lady stopped briefly to wipe her eyes before continuing.

"Then we heard the roar... a rumbling in the distance. I looked back but I couldn't see anything, and then I noticed the horizon was actually rising up. The water got closer, the noise grew louder, and then it hit. The only thing that saved us was that the hills were not far from the coast where we lived. Behind us... I could hear people crying out... we were the only ones who made it. Mom and Dad told us to stay on high ground for a few days nut even so... the next day when the water had receded, Emerson and I snuck away and went down again to check out all the damage... and there they were... the bodies... some on the land and some floating in the bay."

"And last night brought all those memories flooding back" Blue noted.

"I thought I was over it Blue, but the people we saved... they were screaming... they were frightened of us; and they sounded just like the people caught up in the wave when I was a kid. I think that was why I couldn't sleep last night; the sound of the wave, the sound of the people screaming in terror, it was the sound of death."

"I know this may not help" Blue tried to explain, "but there was nothing you could have done when you were younger, but you did do everything you could last night... and you did it very well."

"It's not what I did or didn't do Blue, it's... seeing it all again... hearing it all again... and seeing the same result."

Blue knew there was nothing more he could say to make Calla feel better, this was something extremely deep inside of her, and it would be with her for the rest of her life. But at least he knew he could be there for her when she needed him.

'

* * *

'

The Dragon Riders never did find out where the people they had saved had gone after they ran off. Blue looked around as they flew out later in the morning but there was no sign of anyone. As the young group started the last leg of their journey, Sarah Spencer began what she hoped would be the last day of coping with General Neville Sage. Now that all the supplies and equipment had been transferred to the MTV, the launching of humans could commence on the next orbit.

Sage took great care to choose just the right people to send on the first flight; he did not tell them why, but in reality he was picking those he considered to be the weakest of his force. Major Dias was bound to co-operate knowing that his wife and child were still at risk, but even now Sage still had doubts about what plans Doctor Spencer may have to stop him.

"Okay General, your forces are clear to board the first three capsules" Sarah informed Sage as they stood in the main staging area.

Without acknowledging Doctor Spencer's report, Sage turned to one of his commanders.

"Don't screw this up Rake."

"We're ready sir, and we won't let you down" Carson Rake saluted and marched off to take charge of the first wave.

The next three capsules to be sent into orbit had been totally reconfigured to carry only passengers and their firearms; ten per capsule for a total of thirty soldiers. The ready room techs helped the raiders into position and as each capsule was sealed, it was sent on its thirty five kilometre journey down to the very end of the railgun.

"Shall we head to the control room?" Sarah asked as the railgun tunnel door was closed and locked.

"No, you and I shall observe from here" Sage ordered.

"But why? There's nothing we can..."

"BECAUSE I SAID SO DOCTOR" Sage barked "You know I like to keep you on your toes by being unpredictable."

"Yes of course... I should have realised... sorry" Sarah shrugged.

They didn't have to wait very long for the first launch, but for Sarah it felt like a minor eternity. Just standing next to Sage was hard enough, but when he didn't move and didn't speak, the waiting became unbearable. Eventually though the floor began to vibrate and the heavy steel railgun door creaked as the pressure built up until with a loud bang, the first capsule shot passed on its way to the top of Mount Singgalang, and onto low Earth orbit.

"May I check with the control room on the launch status?" Sarah asked.

"I wouldn't bother if I were you" Sage replied "It was either a successful launch, or I kill you; we'll find out eventually."

Three minutes later the second capsule made its way to space with the third not long after. With all three now gone, Sage turned to Doctor Spencer and smiled eerily.

"Well then, shall we see how they went" he gestured for Sarah to go first.

Back at the control room, they ran into April Dias as she was on her way out.

She was surprised to see him as she too had assumed Sage would have chosen to leave on one of the first three capsules.

"Everything is looking good" April reported "All launches went very smoothly and all capsules are on the correct trajectory, with solids lighting as planned."

"Wonderful Mrs. Dias; now if you will please step back inside" Sage requested.

"But I was just about to go feed Rose."

"Step back inside... please" Sage repeated.

Not wanting to cause trouble at such a delicate time, April did as ordered and the three took up positions behind the technicians staring into their computer screens and giving random reports.

"Capsule One seven seconds to shut down and ejection of booster... booster away."

"Capsule Three at Max-Q."

"Capsule Two at exit velocity."

"Capsule One now under MTV control."

"I wonder how many of my raiders have soiled their pressure suits?" Sage laughed as the technicians continued their work.

"Capsule Two booster away."

"Capsule Three at exit velocity."

"Looking good" Sarah said encouragingly.

"Capsule Two linked to MTV computer."

"Capsule Three booster shut down and ejected."

"Capsule One twenty five minutes to rendezvous."

"Well we appear to have a little time up our sleeve, so may I use it to feed Rose?" April asked politely.

Sage did not reply, he just looked at her and smiled his 'You can do nothing unless I allow it' smile.

"You may" he eventually nodded. "Try to be back before docking."

"Certainly" April agreed.

"And you know what I mean when I say try."

"You mean be back before docking; end of story" April sighed to herself.

"You always were perceptive Mrs. Dias."

Taking the opportunity while she still had it, April hurried back to her room and threw the door open.

"A little late today April" Sue smiled.

"Shifty, are you still there?" April asked urgently.

"Still here Mrs. D" a voice came for the air vent.

"What the... who's that in the pipe?" Sue gasped.

April shut the door and hurried to the vent.

"Things have gone a little wrong Shifty; Sage didn't go in any of the first three capsules."

"I thought he said he would pick one at the last minute" Shifty replied "but why is that a problem anyway?"

"Err... April, who's that voice?" Sue tried again.

"I'll explain in a minute Sue. It's time for me to come clean Shifty; I know Sarah and I said we weren't going to try anything, but we did do a little something... very little, but it's not safe here anymore."

"Is there anything I can do?"

Yes Shifty, you've got to take Rose and get her out of here. Sage may not notice what we've done, and I certainly hope he doesn't, but you can be sure he'll go bananas if he does."

"Okay Mrs. D but... what do I do with her?"

"Take her to your dad, then get her to Panjang; I'm sure our friends there will help look after her."

"But what are you going to do?"

"Try and survive" April admitted.

April ran to her refrigerator and retrieved a number of small bottles and placed them in a soft cooler bag. She then hurried to her bedroom for her baby travel bag and returned to the main room. There were four small clasps holding the vent on and as soon as they were given a quarter turn, the vent fell onto the couch.

"Here's a bag of nappies and other baby things, and this bag has milk for her."

"Milk? Where did you get milk?" Shifty wondered.

"Where do you think I got it? From me of course" April said gruffly.

"Eww" Shifty sneered.

"Oh grow up" April snapped "Hand me the baby Sue."

"April... I think you should go too" Sue said seriously.

"I can't; if I suddenly disappear, Sage will explode and people will get shot."

"Then perhaps I should go; Sage doesn't even know my name" Sue suggested.

"Are you sure about this?" April asked "Crawling through a vent shaft can't be easy."

"It isn't, but let her come if she wants to" Shifty insisted "We're gonna need all the help with Rose as we can get."

April could see the look of determination on Sue's face, bringing back painful memories of the night she had given her first born son over to Sarah Spencer.

"Thank you; give Rose to me and get up in the vent."

April took the baby and placed her in the corner of the couch so she could help Sue into the air pipe.

"Ugh... a forty two year old women should not be forced to do things like this" Sue complained.

As soon as she was in place, April picked up the baby and handed her to Sue.

"See you soon April" Sue smile.

"I certainly hope so" April nodded.

"Later Mrs. D" Shifty added as he and Sue started off.

A fast as she could, April replaced the vent cover and hurried back to the bedroom. Standing in the corner was probably the only cot ever built by aerospace engineers. Grabbing a towel and a blanket, April made a quick baby facsimile and placed it in the cot before hurrying back to the control room.

A short time later, Smit and Gavin felt a tug on the rope and started to pull.

"Shifty must e on a diet, he seems to have lost some weight" Gavin noted after a few minutes.

"In the last hour? Doesn't seem likely" Shifty's father admitted "Say... can you hear a baby."

"I can do more than hear a baby, I can see one" Gavin said as Sue and little Rose neared the top.

Smit reached down and grabbed Sue by the arm.

"Gavin take the baby" he ordered.

"I-I don't know how to hold a baby!" Gavin gasped.

"Then help the lady and I'll get the kid."

Doing as he was told, Gavin reached in and wrapped his hands under Sue's right arm.

"Um... excuse me Ma-am, I don't usually make a habit of grabbing ladies I've just met" He apologised.

"Oh; do you wait until after an introduction and then grab them" Sue smiled at her own joke.

"Well then, who do we have here?" Smit smiled "Aren't you a handsome little boy."

"No she's not, so just ignore the blue blanket she's wrapped in; I'm Sue and this is Rose. Now we'd better find a place to put her so I can give you a hand as Shifty is a little bit overloaded. Once he's up, we have to disappear quickly, because things may get a little crazy soon."

"Sounds like a god idea" Smit agreed as he lowered the rope.

'

* * *

'

**I just heard on TV about Italy having the lowest number of new covid cases in the last seven weeks. Here's hoping the news continues to improve.**

**I think you're right Mr. Guest (or is it Ms. Guest?); I'd say that Florida would be pretty devastated in the world of Blue Dias. I don't think Adelaide, the city I live in, wouldn't do very well either. Only the people in the hills behind the suburbs would have any hope.**

**In other news, it normally takes me four to six days to write a chapter. Then when it is time to publish, I'll take a few hours to rewrite and proof read, but not this one. It took me two days to make additions and alterations just to make sure there weren't any errors in the plot, although you may still find some. I also found I had gotten over excited about bringing the story to an end, and had just rushed through said plot without putting in very much detail (fixed now).**

**I get the feeling the last five chapters will also need a bit of love. Oh well, back to work ;D**

**See ya soon, **_**Marty.**_


	62. Chapter 62

Chapter 62

The final day of flying passed slowly for the Dragon Riders. The stress of the previous evening had kept all of them on edge throughout the night and so everyone was felling tired. After an extended lunch break near a mountain river in the country of Aceh, they all took a short nap in the shade to revitalise themselves. The larger dragons were happy to join them in slumber while the already rested Terrors scurried around the jungle, discovering many new things they had never before seen, smelt or eaten.

About an hour later, Blue roused his friends and started to get Speedy ready for the last leg of the long journey. As he worked, Calla wandered over to him and tried to raise up a little courage.

"Hey uh... I'm sorry about this morning... I wasn't really myself."

"Oh, who were you?" Blue smirked.

"A bit of a jerk I think" Calla dmitted.

"No, you weren't; memories can be painful and it happens to all of us sometimes, but you have to remember something."

"What?" Calla asked suspiciously.

"I'm wonderful" Blue said cheekily.

Calla smirked, reached up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"No you're not" she smiled and went to put her saddle on Windstorm.

Even though the dragon could not know about the trauma the young girl had gone though, Windstorm had no trouble picking up on Calla's mood. As she fastened the girth straps around the Nadders chest, a large greenish blue head looked back at her and purred.

"I'll be alright girl" Calla said reassuringly.

Standing up, Calla ran her hand up the dragon's neck and hugged her, wondering how she ever got by without a good dragon at her side; how did anyone?

'

'

Everybody in the control room went about their jobs without fuss or bother. They were also quite calm, except for April and Sarah.

"The launch window will be open for the next series of launches in less than an hour General; shouldn't you be getting down to the staging area?" Sarah asked.

"Plenty of time Doctor Spencer" Sage smirked "Anybody would think you were trying to get rid of me.

"Just wanted to make sure there was no hold up."

"Thank you Doctor, but there is something I would like to see first" Sage said and leaned closer to one of the monitors.

Flicking a switch on the panel in front of him, Sage picked up a desk microphone and spoke.

"Sage to Carson Rake, are you receiving me?"

A few seconds later, the static cleared and the call was answered.

"Rake here General; ready to transmit."

"Good work; point the camera at the rear of the ship and move it slowly forward" Sage ordered.

"Camera?" April mouthed silently to Sarah.

Sage turned a dial switch under the monitor, and the image changed from telemetry information to the live feed from Rake's hand held camera. The picture panned forward along the spine of the MTV as ordered, while Sage carefully studied what he saw, looking for any problems or signs of intended danger. Everything looked as it should so Sarah and April soon started to assume they had dodged another bullet.

'

* * *

'

"Blue... how will we know if it's safe to land?" Calla called out as they approached their destination "Sage may not have left yet."

"I'm not sure" Blue replied "We may have to set down a few kilometres away and walk in to see what's happening."

"Hey, I've got an idea" Haley interjected "Some of my friends from El Centro decided to hide out a few kilometres away from the Railgun Complex, rather than live under the yoke of Sage and the Raiders, so we should check in with them first."

"Sounds like a great idea" Blue agreed "Do you know where they are?"

"I know the general area, so I'm sure we'll find them from the air."

"Great; lead the way" Blue nodded.

Given the encouragement he wanted, Boris flew out in front of the other dragons and kept on a south-easterly heading. Haley banked the dragon from left to right as she searched the ground below until she spotted what she was looking for. A small number of tents and rough huts well away from the complex entrance and close to a fast flowing river. She led the Dragon Riders down on the side of a hill, a few hundred meters west of the camp.

"Right then; I'll go make contact and tell everyone not to freak out when they see the..."

"AAHHRRGH!" somebody behind them freaked out.

All heads turned towards the cry where three men, a woman and a baby were making their way towards the camp.

"Gavin relax, it's only me" Haley tried to comfort the frightened young man.

"B-but it's not only you, is it? It's them too" Gavin pointed to the dragons.

The curious Terrors had already started to sniff at the newcomers but Blue held Speedy back when he tried to join them.

"Hey sweetheart, great to see you again but uh... where'd you get the dinosaurs?" Shifty asked.

"They're not dinosaurs, they're dragons" Calla interjected.

"And if you call me sweetheart again, I'll break your nose" Haley added.

There was a brief time of declared disbelief about the existence of dragons, along with a rapid realisation that they were actually staring straight at them. Introductions were eventually made and when Sue heard the names Blue and Abigail Dias, she stepped forward with the baby she had been keeping back and protecting, just in case the dragons had started unexpectedly eating people.

"Blue, Abby, perhaps you would like to meet your little sister Rose Talon Dias."

The thought that the baby in front of them could be their sister had never occurred to them and everyone took a few minutes to fuss over the little bundle until Blue asked the obvious question.

"Wait a minute, why isn't the baby with Mom?"

"Ah that's quite a story, let me explain" Shifty began "Actually there may not be time, so let me sum up; Your Mom and Doctor Spencer have been telling everyone that they had no plans to double cross Sage, but it turns out they do have something up their sleeves; so of course if they get caught, something really smelly may hit the fan. I just found out about it when Mrs. D told me to get Rose out of the complex."

"Wait... you can contact Mom?" Blue asked urgently.

"Well yeah... but only at certain times; let me continue..."

"No time, just answer this; is Saffy trapped inside the complex too?"

"No she's at the ship" Smit told them "She spends most of her time there these days."

"Any guards at the ship?" Blue asked.

"Always; usually half a dozen or so" Shifty replied.

"Okay then..." Blue's mind shifted into overdrive "Haley, take Abby, Gage and your dragons and hide near the entrance to underground road; take the Gronkle too. Shifty, go make contact with Mom... or anyone else inside the complex and give them a message..."

"Maybe I should go back" Sue interrupted "They know me inside so I won't be stopped and questioned."

"But what about Rose?"

"I'll take her" Smit offered "Had a lot of experiences with rug rats over the years."

"Okay fine then" Blue agreed "Me, Calla and a few good Terrors are going to take control of the ship, get Saffy and grab some gear while we're at it. Everyone understand?"

"Yep; just tell me the message" Sue nodded.

'

* * *

'

Not long after, Blue and Calla were crouched down amongst the trees at the top of the beach, contemplating the challenge before them.

"Okay there's one on the ramp, I saw two on the foredeck and there is probably at least one aft" Blue noted.

"That's only four, so where are the rest?"

"Your guess is as good as mine" Blue shrugged.

"Well my guess is they are either inside the belly of the ship, or off duty in one of the cabins" Calla whispered.

"As good a guess as any" Blue nodded "I suggest you and I sweep in from above and send the guys on the foredeck out for a swim, while the Terrors disarm the guy on the ramp."

"Then we move aft and play it by ear I suppose" Calla shrugged.

"Unfortunately I can't think of a better plan right now."

"Don't worry, it's a good plan" Calla patted Blue on the back.

"I hope so, well... let's go."

Speedy and Windstorm followed their riders back into the forest where Blue and Calla saddled up and psyched themselves ready.

"Firefly, Daisy, get the gun" Blue ordered the Terrors as he pointed to the man on the ramp.

As soon as the little dragons had scurried off Speedy and Windstorm took to the air and circled around on opposite sides of the ship. Up on the bow, one of the guards noticed something on the beach and picked up his radio.

"Spotter here; can you those things coming down the beach?" he transmitted.

"Affirmative Spotter... what are they?" the man on the ramp asked.

"Well they look like big lizards or really small alligators."

"Some lizards do lay their eggs in the sand, so maybe they're OOFFF!"

"Ramp this is Spotter, can you repeat?" but the radio only gave static.

The second guard on the bow moved up and tried to see what was going on down below.

"Spotter to Ramp, are you receiving me?"

The two men looked at each other from opposite sides of the ship as they removed their rifles from their shoulders, but it was all to no avail. Before they could even attempt to train their rifles down on the beach, they were they were both grabbed from behind and hoisted upward. They each dropped their rifles and cried out in fear as whatever had them swooped down offshore and deposited them in the ocean not far from the beach. Each man struggled for a few seconds to stay afloat in their heavy military gear, until they both sheepishly realised they could touch the sand beneath them.

"Well done everyone" Blue smiled as he and Speedy landed next to the ramp leading up into the belly of the giant tanker.

The ramp guard thought it was bad enough with a couple of small dragons crawling all over him, but now that a Night Fury was staring straight into his face, he began to think his time had finally come, and so he promptly passed out.

"Damn; I was hoping to get some information out of him about the other guards" Blue sighed.

"The other three are off duty; they take four hour shifts" a voice came from inside the dark ship.

'

* * *

'

Deep underground in the railgun control room, Neville Sage stared intently at the image on the screen in front of him. He looked for anything out of the ordinary on the Mars Transfer Vehicle; any addition, anything missing, anything that would indicate sabotage. Every now and then Sage would call Carson Rake, who was flying towards the ship in an orbiting capsule, and request a closer inspection of a certain area of interest. When this happened for the eighth time, Sarah and April continued to stay calm, knowing there was nothing for him to find on the ship; but this time he hadn't noticed something on the ship.

"Rake, go back the tenth docking ring; I thought I saw a flash behind the ship."

Doing as ordered, Carson Rake found the light Sage had seen and zoomed in on it. On the other side of the MTV was another ship; a smaller ship that looked like a Winnebago with a weight problem, and with shrimp like pincers protruding from the nose.

"That's a Space Exploration Vehicle" Sage declared "What's an SEV doing out there? Get me Dias on the radio... NOW!"

The radio operator altered the frequency to that of the MTV but no answer was forthcoming. April and Sarah tried to look innocent and mildly surprised but they knew Sage would see right through them soon enough. Oddly enough, he did not even ask the women what was going on, he merely pace back and forth mulling over the situation.

"If Dias is in that SEV, what could he be doing? Or... where could he be going? It's a space vehicle; it can't land on Earth or Mars... it couldn't even make it back to Mars from here... couldn't land on the Moon either so... it could only... GET ME RAKE AGAIN!"

"Rake here" Carson replied when the call was made.

"Look around on the far side of the MTV; particularly where that SEV is headed."

"Roger that sir, visually scanning the area" Rake acknowledged.

Sage went back to staring t the video feed from the capsule and was both excited and shocked when he turned out to be right. If he had not been looking for it, he never would have seen it. A long way out on the far side of the MTV was something big. As Rake zoomed in on the new object, Sage's eyes grew wider and wider. He could see what appeared to be a natural space body over ten kilometres across. Around its equator was a single square truss and it had two circular domes on the surface, about a kilometre in diameter each, and evenly placed on the left and right of the body a few kilometres apart, making it look like it had two massive eyes. As Sage stared at the domes, he noticed each one was revolving in the opposite direction to the other.

"What the... IS THAT A SPACE STATION? ARE THOSE O'NEILL CYLINDER CAPS IN THE FRONT?"

"To tell the truth, it's Deimos" Sarah admitted, realising she could not hide it any longer.

"DEIMOS? THE MARTIAN MOON? WHAT KIND OF CRAP IS THIS?" Sage furiously yelled.

The guards in the room had already raised their weapons and were just waiting for any kill order that may come. Ignoring all others in the room, Sage just spun around and grabbed Doctor Spencer by the collar and slammed her into the wall.

"I want to know what's going on Doctor, and I don't want to hear any double talk."

'

* * *

'

**Hello again**

**Sorry this chapter is a little late, I had some minor health problems. Nothing serious but I took some time off to rest. The last four chapters are coming along well so I'm not expecting any more hold ups.**

**I noticed a week ago that one of my regular readers, FaolenBookWolf has started reading Red Sky Rising so I assume it will be a long time before he/she gets up to this chapter. If you do, drop me a line so I can check the dates and see.**

**Thanks, **_**Marty.**_


	63. Chapter 63

Chapter 63

"Doctor Pascal, is that you?" Blue asked the darkness.

"Yes; hello Blue... um... is it safe to come out?"

"Of course it is... oh... you mean the dragons; don't worry, they won't hurt you."

"They didn't do that guard much good" Willow Pascal said as she stepped into the light.

"Oh they only attack when we tell them too" Calla waved off her concern "so the Terrors won't attack you unless ordered... plus he had a gun and the dragons don't like guns."

"Dragons... I-I don't believe it... DeGroot wasn't crazy after all."

"Nope... well to be truthful, I still think he is... just a bit" Calla admitted.

Blue noticed the deck guards as they wandered up to shore, so he and Calla took their dragons out to the beach and used fear to herd the men back inside the tanker, while taking their unconscious friend with them. Once they were tied up, Blue and Speedy fetched their rifles from the deck where they had been dropped, leaving all three weapons with Willow Pascal as she oversaw their first prisoners.

"Should we enter through the door at the back of the main deck, or sneak inside from here?" Calla asked.

"Neither; follow me" Blue replied.

Soon Windstorm and Speedy were winging their way along the port side of the ship, just above the water. They were so far below the ships railing that nobody could see them unless they had their head out over the side. After banking around the stern, the two riders pulled back on the reins, bringing their dragons up into a short vertical climb before landing on the helipad at the rear of the superstructure. Little did they know that on the observation deck below them, resting in a hammock with a good book, ten year old Saffron Hikaru Dias had just seen two fast moving blurs flash past her and land with a dull thud.

"Whoa... was that a Nadder?" she asked herself as she dropped to the ground and ran up the steps.

As her head popped up above the stairwell, she took in the sight before her and smiled broadly.

"Far out, it is a Nadder... a female one... AND A NIGHT FURY TOO!"

All eyes turned to the excited young girl as she ran up the stairs and over to the dragons.

"Blue, Calla... you're back" she excitedly stated the obvious "Where did you find the dragons?"

"H-how did you know about the dragons?" Blue asked, quite stunned.

"From your book silly; the Book of Gothi. Did you find the Vision Cave too?

"You know about the Vision Cave?" Calla gasped.

"Oh that's right, you hadn't translated that far yet" Saffron smiled proudly "I used your notes to teach myself how to read Berkian runes and continued your work; there was precious little else to do around here once Sage took over the complex."

"Saffy, you are brilliant" Blue grinned proudly.

"Yes I am" she agreed.

"Okay you stay here with Speedy and Windstorm while Calla and I take Firefly and Daisy to disarm the last of the guards."

"Wow, you've got Terrible Terrors too?" Saffron gasped as she saw the smaller dragons drop down from where they were perched n the larger dragon's saddles.

"Wait till you see the rest of the team" Calla smirked "Back soon."

'

* * *

'

"I swear General, we were doing everything you wanted us to" Sarah Spencer tried to speak clearly, even though Sage's arm was pressing on her throat.

"You didn't tell me there was another vessel out there" Sage hissed.

"You only wanted the MTV and supplies for the journey to Mars" April interjected "And you've got everything you've asked for."

Sage pulled out his sidearm and pointed it at April's head. All the technicians leapt to their feet but Sage's men kept them covered with their rifles.

"I want that space station, and I want it immediately" he growled, finger lightly touching the trigger of his pistol.

"Anything we have, we'll gladly give you, but Deimos doesn't belong to us and that's why we never mentioned it; because we knew you'd want it, and we knew it would be impossible for us to get it for you" April begged.

"So who does have it?"

"There are about twenty people from the Mars Colony out there building it" Sarah continued "They've been working on it since they left Mars, but it's nowhere near being ready to handle the number of people you want to take back. The only reason they moved it here was so we could supply them with food and other essentials. In the long run it will become a vessel for transporting large numbers of people out to new colonies."

The look on Sage's face showed mix of confusion and anger. How could anything of this magnitude have been done without his knowledge? He thought for a moment about what projects were underway on Mars before he left. Most effort had been poured into Base One expansion and the continued construction of Base Two. But there had been a few small teams working on expanding back into space in the long term, so if priorities had changed after the overthrow of the Deep Council, then what he saw was indeed possible.

"The ion thrusters used on the MTV would not be able to move something with the mass of Deimos to Earth orbit in such a short amount of time... therefore it must have nuclear thermal propulsion. And the only place they could have sourced parts for rocket motors like that... would be..."

The look of confusion changed to one of realisation.

"...from you" Sage growled.

There was an audible gulp as Sarah nervously swallowed.

"Listen very closely Spencer, I have absolutely no reason to believe anything you tell me right now, but it is an outside possibility, so this is what we are going to do. You will make contact with Deimos, and tell them I will execute one of your people every hour until they agree to dock with the MTV and allow me complete access to their station; your time starts now."

'

* * *

'

On the outside of the complex, word of Sage's wrath had not yet become known. So the guards at the main entrance still just stood around looking particularly bored, unaware they were being watched by both humans and dragons; while back inside, a lady named Sue was walking casually about causing trouble.

"Hey... come here" she quietly called some of her colleagues.

Sue beckoned them to an empty room to tell them her secret message.

"We all know Sage and his goons are leaving today, but signs are pointing to possible trouble. It is very important that we get the word to everyone without letting any of the enemy know what I'm about to tell you. If you hear anyone call out the code word, get down on the floor, hide behind something, anything but stand in the open and get shot; is that clear?"

"Sure but what's the code word?" one asked.

"Dragons" Sue replied.

"Why Dragons?" another wondered.

"Why not?" everyone was asking the same question "It had to be something we don't normally shout out, and Dragons was what was chosen. Now stop being a pain in the butt and pass it on... carefully"

"Sorry Sue" the first one said as they walked off.

'

* * *

'

Not far away, Speedy and Windstorm flew in so low, the tips of their claws were brushing the tops of some trees while Haley and the rest of the riders kept their important vigil.

"Hey, who rides this little spud?" Shifty asked about the Gronkle in his usual annoying way.

"He hasn't got a rider yet; now be quiet" Haley whispered angrily.

"Can I have him?"

"NO!" Abigail and Haley both quietly yelled.

"What's his name anyway?"

"He hasn't got a name Shifty, and if you don't shut up..."

"Okay, okay, I get the message" he finally resigned himself.

Although Haley had told Shifty to be silent, she hadn't told him to leave the Gronckle alone so he continued to pet the creature and scratch its chin.

"Hey everybody, how's it going?" Blue asked as he, Calla and Saffron snuck up to be with the rest of the riders.

"Not much happening here; how'd thing go at the ship?" Haley asked.

"The first three were a slight problem but as for the second three, we just stole their rifles while they slept and locked 'em in their cabins. Doctor Pascal and the other Techs on board have got everything under control."

Taking a pair of binoculars offered by Haley, Blue studied the situation at the entrance while Saffron shuffled over to her sister.

"Hey Abby, which dragon is yours?" she asked quietly

"That one" Abigail pointed to Lucy and Ricky as they did their best to keep low.

"Ah the Zippleback" Saffron nodded "It can be difficult to get the two heads to co-operate sometimes."

"How does she know so much about Zipplebacks?" Abigail asked.

"Saffy knows some things even I don't know" Blue replied "Okay this is how we're gonna proceed."

Giving the Binoculars back to Haley, Blue gathered the Dragon Rider in a circle to lay out the plan.

"Haley, you and Boris go down the main trunk tunnel with Lucy, Ricky and the Gronkle. Use your Terrors to disarm raiders in the side passages while the big dragons take control sector by sector. Each time you clear a section, try to lock as many raiders as you can in storerooms or anything else you can find, and give any undamaged weapons to railgun personnel, assuming they don't all just run away from the dragons. Calla takes the left passage and I will take right; and then we'll just keep pushing through to the railgun staging area. Once we're there, we'll turn back doing a more careful sweep of every room. Once the raiders have seen the dragons, I'm hoping most of them will panic and run for the entrance so we'll only have to clean up what's left."

"Don't you think we should wait first?" Haley disagreed "Some of the raiders have already gone off to space and the others may leave with Sage soon enough."

"Waiting is not an option" Abigail insisted "Sage is a real hothead so if Mom thought she should get Rose out, then my guess is she needs us; they all need us."

"Anything you want me to do?" Saffron checked.

"Yes please; once we've cleared the way, you and Shifty move in closer to the entrance and grab any of the railgun personnel you see come running out. Try to explain that the dragons are on our side and try to get them to go back in and help. We have always outnumbered the raiders so once they're disarmed, our people should have no trouble retaking the base."

"But I wanted to go with you" Shifty protested.

"Sorry Shifty, experienced dragon riders only" Haley shook her head.

"Precisely" Blue agreed "Any more questions?"

"Yeah; why does the little spud have a saddle if no one is gonna ride him?" Shifty moaned.

"Then if there are no genuine questions..." Blue looked around at everyone "...right, let's go."

"I thought my question was genuine" Shifty grumbled.

The Dragon Riders started prepping their flying steeds for battle by removing saddlebags to reduce weight and shortening stirrup straps for a less relaxed and more purposeful ride. Calla removed her axe from its scabbard, but kept its leather blade guard in place; she wanted to beat the raiders, not decapitate them.

Then they all moved further back into the undergrowth, mounted up and took to the air, still flying away from the tunnel entrance. Only Saffron saw the extra rider when Shifty followed the others and jumped onto the Gronckles saddle just before he left the ground.

"Okay everyone, count to five and then follow us in" Blue ordered "let's go Calla."

Speedy and Windstorm pulled back and flew straight up before turning over at the apex of their climb and diving back down. They then flew straight at the railgun entrance at very high speed.

"Hey... what's that noise?" one of the gate guards asked the other when he heard a distinct whine growing rapidly in pitch and volume.

The two men's eyes almost popped out of their skulls when a pair of dragons appeared over the trees and shot fireballs at them. The weaponised projectiles struck the sand in front of the men with explosive force, temporarily blinding them and knocking them backwards several meters before both dragons disappeared into the tunnel.

Before the dust and sand had even settled, Saffron burst from her hiding place and sprinted across the road, grabbing one fallen rifle before running to the get the other on. Just then, three more large dragons flew in behind the vanguard.

"DAMN YOU SHIFTY, A TEN YEAR OLD GIRL SHOULD NOT BE LEFT TO DO THIS ALONE!" Saffron called out as the Gronckle flew by. She doubted he heard everything she said, but shouting made her feel better.

At the bottom of the tunnel, Calla and Blue encountered a number of Sage's guards in the main vehicle holding area. A well placed spine shot from Windstorm disarmed the nearest one, who was then knocked onto his back by Speedy's wing draught. The gaze of the remaining guards followed the black dragon as he flew overhead, meaning they did not see the young man who had leapt off the Night Fury and knocked a second raider to the ground with a knee to his back.

The remaining three quickly turned back, intending to train their weapons on Blue but they were far too slow. The first two firearms were deflected and sent spinning away by Blue's fast moving rapier, while the last man standing was hit in the chest by the tail of a Nadder and sent flying back against the wall.

"Good job Calla; I'll see you soon" Blue waved as he, Firefly and Speedy made for the right side passage.

"Be careful Babe" Calla called out.

'

* * *

'

Tensions were more than high in the control room where Sage was still fuming over what he considered to be the worst double cross since the Mars Deep Council had allowed an attempt on his life to go ahead.

"I hope you understand Dias that if you fail to cooperate, there is a one in six chance that the first person to die will be your wife" Sage barked into the microphone.

"We're doing what you want Sage, it just takes time" Luis's voice came back over the radio.

"Time is one thing you don't have" Sage fumed "You know I don't like being lied to."

"Nobody lied to you; you demanded the MTV, but you never insisted I should remain on board."

"I lie of omission is still a lie" Sage growled "NOW GET THAT STATION DOCKED TO THE MTV."

"Deimos is over twelve kilometers across, something of that mass doesn't move quickly."

"Then take the MTV to Deimos" Sage barked.

"But your people are starting their docking manoeuvres. Did you want me to abandon them?"

Sage was fully aware the guards in the room had both friends and family inside the three capsules moving towards the MTV, and they would not be happy if he did leave them drifting in space to fend for themselves. One thing was becoming quite clear to Sage; what he had demanded was impossible, but he did not want to appear weak by giving any concessions. He had almost decided to keep pushing Dias while carrying out his threatened executions, when he suddenly realised the noise he had barely noticed on the other side of the door, was steadily growing louder and more urgent.

"Five minutes till the first person dies Dias!" Sage sneered before dropping the microphone.

The guards and the people they held at gunpoint were all starting to feel nervous about all the screaming coming from outside the door, and even Sage wondered if he was doing the right thing when he stormed over and flung it open."

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OUT HERE?" he barked, but the guards he had left outside the door were no longer there.

Instead he saw several people running in fear down the corridor with many more of them further down at the main passageway. On the floor he noticed the twin barrels of a shotgun with the stock and other small pieces scattered not far away. He wanted answers and he wanted them now, so he grabbed one of the technicians rushing passed and shook him violently.

"I said... what the hell is going on?" he repeated through clenched teeth.

"LET ME GO, DRAGONS!" the frightened man replied before breaking free and running off.

"Oh I don't need this crap" Sage fumed as he made his way towards the main passageway, sidearm in his hand.

As both technicians and raiders ran in the opposite direction, Sage marched with determination towards whatever trouble was ahead. Rounding the corner, the self proclaimed general found himself only a few meters from a massive red dragon.

"AAAARGH" he screamed in terror, firing his pistol at the beast.

'

* * *

'

**After lunch today, I decided to have a short nap of 15 to 20 minutes. Instead I lay down for 2 hours as ideas flooded my head about what to put in the next story. This means I'll start working on it as soon as the last chapter of this one goes out, and you'll hopefully see some of it before Christmas... or should I say Snoggletog? ;D**

**Hope you are all well and I'll see you soon.**

_**Marty.**_


	64. Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Haley had been doing a wonderful job at keeping her dragon under control, but when Boris felt the searing pain of a bullet passing through the leathery fabric of his right wing, nothing was going to stop him as he fired back at the loud weapon that had attacked him. Sage's pistol went flying from his hand as he fell back to the floor, grimacing in agony from a severely burnt hand and two broken fingers. The aptly named Monstrous Nightmare growled menacingly as it advanced on the shivering man until Haley pulled back on the reins.

"Well well well... as I live and breathe, look who it is" Haley smiled as she dropped to the ground.

As Sage continued to crawl backwards, the young lady walked slowly towards him, a broken rifle with a bent barrel in her hand. More screaming and another gunshot echoed behind her as a spinning Gronckle passed by in the main passage, its rider yelling like he was at a rodeo.

"Go help that moron please Boris, I got this guy right where I want him."

The Nightmare snorted gruffly at Sage before turning and going after Shifty and the Gronckle, while Haley continued to take advantage of her position.

"I bet you don't even remember me, but I remember you" she continued.

"D-don't take it personally, I-I don't remember a lot of people" Sage shrugged, wishing this girl would stop smiling at him.

"East of San Francisco, Sacramento River, under a flag of truce, you stated a gunfight and the result of it was THIS!" Haley sneered as she brought her artificial leg down onto Sage's chest.

"What do you want me to do about it... apologise?" Sage replied defiantly.

"No no, of course not" Haley smiled sweetly again before scowling "I want my leg back you sonofabitch!"

As soon as the words had passed her lips, Haley suddenly felt a shocking blow to the back of her head and she fell to the ground unconscious.

"Sir, are you alright?" Joshua Cook asked as he offered his hand to Sage.

"Of course I'm not alright you idiot; what's happened, where did that dragon come from? I can't believe I just said that."

"There's more than one" Cook answered "They've over run the base sir; our forces have been mostly disarmed and scattered; so with respect sir, we've got to get out of here."

Cook pulled his leader to his feet by his left arm while Sage continued to nurse his right one.

"Give me your pistol and open that door" he ordered.

Bursting back into the room, Sage motioned the guards to back away from their prisoners so he could more easily threaten them.

"Which one of you can switch launch control to the lead capsule?"

"Err, I can sir" one of the technicians reluctantly replied.

"Do it!" Sage demanded.

The technician stepped forward and typed a simple command into the computer and turned a power diversion switch two places to the left.

"Done sir" the man said, hoping he had done enough to placate the angry man with the gun.

"If you had to, how long would it take you to switch it back again?" Sage asked.

"Less than a minute sir."

"Pity" Sage shrugged and fired at the man.

Gasps and cries came from the other prisoners as Sage then shot the computer several times before rushing out of the room with Cook and the guards close behind. Sarah rushed to her injured colleague as he gasped on the floor in an expanding pool of blood.

"You are so lucky Sage is a dreadful shot with his left hand" she said as she tried to stem the flow of blood coming from the technician's right upper arm.

Further down in the complex, the dragons had finally met up in the staging room and had confronted not only a few guards, but a small cluster of technicians still waiting to send off the next three capsules. The Terrible Terrors had developed quite an effective disarmament strategy that consisted of running in behind the larger dragons and climbing the back wall, before flying above the hanging lights and dropping on top of anyone with a firearm. Their system worked again here so with Sage's men out of action, it fell to the leader of the Dragon Riders to bring some calm to the room. Slipping down from the saddle, Blue held out his hands to the people he knew so well.

"It's okay guys, it's only me" he told the cowering technicians.

"What the hell Blue, when did you get back? More importantly, where did you get those... whatever they are?" one of them demanded to know.

"They're our dragons" he explained bluntly, "with their help we've re-taken the complex, but we need everyone to sweep the base and take every remaining raider into custody. Almost all of them are now unarmed and greatly outnumbered so when we leave, stay behind us for cover and help us to mop up; okay?"

"Are you sure about this Blue?" another asked.

"Trust me... this is happening and it's happening now" he smiled as he removed the sword from his back.

The various scientists, engineers and technicians of the railgun complex were not cowards, but they had been following Doctor Spencer's policy of 'Don't Make Trouble' for so long, it was hard to change their way of thinking. But eventually they all looked to each other for courage, took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"Lead on" they all agreed.

Blue smiled and nodded to his friends before he got back onto Speedy. It was only now, with the arrival of the rest of the dragons, that Blue realised he had gained an addition to his charges.

"I thought I told you to help Saffy at the tunnel entrance" he barked at Shifty.

"Well... I figured I could do more good here... also me and Spud have been getting on great" Shifty said eagerly.

"Spud? Oh alright, follow me and keep close" Blue shrugged "Hey... where's Haley?"

For the first time everyone noticed the saddle on Boris's back was empty and their concern was obvious.

"Blue we've got to find her" Gage said was everyone was thinking.

"Don't worry, we will" Blue replied firmly.

Leaving the defeated guards tied to a storage rack, the Dragon Riders started the journey back to the entrance. This time they moved slowly, stopping at each junction to check every room along the way, both for the enemy and for Haley. As the Dragon Riders headed out, Sage and his men made their way in the opposite direction, but the flow of frightened people running the other way, gave Sage a very clear indication of what was coming.

"Grab the next one of our men to run past" Sage ordered the others.

This was an easy request to fulfil as there were several to choose from. The unlucky one soon found himself up against a wall being rapidly interrogated.

"Where's the dragon" Sage barked.

"Which one?" the frightened man asked.

Sage had not expected this response. Not long ago, he had not even considered the existence of any dragons, and now he was told there was more than one running around the complex.

"How many are there?"

"I-I've seen three big ones and a few little ones" the man replied.

Sage stopped and thought for a moment, but was brought back to the present when they all heard a distinctly non-human roar come from a nearby intersection.

"Quick; in here and lock the door" Sage ordered everyone.

Not long after they had disappeared, a number of dragons passed by at the end of the corridor, but only one dragon turned down it.

"Come on Spud; if we do a good job checking these rooms, Blue may let me keep you... or you keep me, I don't know how it works with dragons" Shifty chatted away to the Gronckle happily hovering along behind him.

The first several rooms were all totally void of all human life, but eventually he came to one he could not enter.

"Hmm... locked. Well I suppose if we can't get in, then nobody else could have either" the young man shrugged.

On the other side of the door, one of Sage's men listened intently. As soon as he was sure Shifty had well and truly moved on, they opened the door and kept on going towards the railgun at the end of the complex. A few corridors away, the rest of the Dragon Riders were following Boris as he sniffed about for Haley's scent.

"There she is!" Calla pointed as they rounded a corner.

Dragons and riders all ran over to the young woman lying face down on the floor.

"She's still alive" Abigail said after checking her pulse "Judging by the lump on her head, I'd say she was pistol whipped."

"She may have a concussion" Blue offered a thought.

"Almost a certainty" Abigail agreed.

In a perfectly timed coincidence, two of the control room techs suddenly appeared from a far corridor carrying a stretcher. As soon as they saw the dragons though, they skidded to a halt.

"It's okay guys, they're with us" Blue said calmingly.

"Blue... Calla... when did you get back?" one asked the question that seemed to be on everyones lips.

"Not long before the trouble started" Calla replied.

"I think we brought it with us" Gage added.

"Bring the stretcher over here; one of our riders has been hurt."

"Sorry Blue, but we've got a gunshot wound in one of the rooms behind you, but we'll help your friend too of course."

"Oh... your Mom is in there too" the other tech revealed.

As soon as they heard the news, Blue, Calla and Abigail hurried back to the room in question and threw the door open.

"MOM!" Abigail cried out and threw herself into April's arms.

"Abby... y-your back... and Blue... where did you come from?"

"We flew back" Blue smiled "Prepare yourselves for a shock."

It seemed like everything was happening at once. The injured man was put on the stretcher and taken to the medical centre, while Haley was carried by one of the other technicians. April and Sarah were lead out of the control room where they saw several waiting dragons. Now for the first time in her life, April finally had confirmation that the stories her grandfather would tell her as a little girl, were more than just stories.

'

* * *

'

"I had him... I really had him" Haley lamented soon after from her hospital bed "and then someone hit me and everything went black."

"Try not to get too upset" Doctor Quill Vieira ordered "you've had a serious knock there."

"What happened to Sage?" she asked.

"We never found him" Blue admitted.

"Oh... he had launch control transferred to the lead capsule; he's probably on his way to the staging area" Sarah informed them.

Without a word being said between them, Calla and Blue looked at each other, nodded and ran out of the room.

"LET HIM GO; IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!" April called out, but to no avail.

The medical centre was far too small for dragons, so Gage and Shifty had been dragon sitting in the nearest passageway wide enough. Blue and Calla leapt onto their dragons, leaving only one departing order for the newest rider.

"Stay here!" Blue barked when Shifty pulled himself up on the Gronkle.

Calla was sure she could find the staging area if she needed to, but Blue knew the complex like the back of his hand; so she and Windstorm just stuck to Speedy's tail and followed them deeper inside. The few people who had not run off outside were slowly becoming accustomed to seeing the boy they had known since he was a baby, now flying through the complex on a creature that should not exist.

They moved with such velocity, that they arrived in the staging area only a minute after Sage and his men, still marching towards the railgun.

"SAGE!" Blue called out as he and Speedy flew forward.

Clearly upset over seeing dragons again, Sage turned and fired with the gun in his left hand before he and his men all sprinted the last few meters to the capsules ahead of them. Speedy and Windstorm ducked and rolled to avoid the flying slugs; they both fired back but had to move so erratically to avoid getting shot, their fireballs all missed the mark.

"TAKE THE GUN" Sage shouted at Cook "AND KEEP THEM AWAY."

Free to move at last, Sage dove into the lead capsule and started to power up its systems, hitting the control to close up the railgun. Outside, Cook and the other raiders kept the dragons at bay until they heard the door motors spinning up, they then retreated and joined their leader inside before the door closed behind them.

"Dammit" Blue cursed.

The electric hum of the railgun got louder and louder as the capsules started moving down to the end of the tunnel.

"Can you get it open?" Calla asked as she and Blue landed next to the door.

"Yes but it would be a disaster if I did. Not only would Sage and his men die a rather horrid death, but the escaping high pressure air would destroy this entire room and everything in it, including us."

"Okay the first part doesn't bother me, but I'm not too keen on the second bit; so don't open the door" Calla agreed.

The entire base started to vibrate as the single capsule with Sage and the last of his raiders shot up the railgun tunnel and rocketed off into space.

"Hmph, I just realised something" Blue laughed "They are gonna be stuck in that capsule for almost a day with no food, water, or toilet facilities."

"Why?" Calla asked.

"The MTV isn't in the correct orbital position; it will take forever to rendezvous with it."

"Good; it couldn't happen to a nicer guy" Calla nodded.

'

* * *

'

**Oh man, the end is so close.**

**The worst thing about finishing a story, is having to say goodbye to everyone for a few months.**

**Surprised you can think clearly first thing in the morning Draco, my brain is like overcooked porridge till I've had time to get moving. Afternoon naps though can be another matter completely. Sometimes I just rest, but other times it's like this; Shutdown Vision, Shutdown Hearing, Switch Unconscious Mind into Overdrive. And then the ideas come.**

**Boo Cat demands sustenance so I'll see you all in a few days, **_**Marty.**_


	65. Chapter 65

**I think should have split this chapter into two parts. It started out at a normal length of just over two thousand words but when I re-read it, it seemed to rush through a lot of information without any detail. I thought I'd just add a little more but when I was done, it was pushing close to five thousand words. As I said, maybe I should have split it into two, but I was just too lazy ;D**

* * *

Chapter 65

"So... it doesn't matter that he got away?" Blue checked twice to see if he really understood what his mother was telling him.

"It would have been nice to have caught him, but then we would have needed to find something to do with him" April shrugged.

"Dragon food is one possibility" Calla suggested, making everybody laugh.

While feelings of relief ran high in the room, Doctor Vieira had something more to important think about; the technician with a bullet wound and Haley's concussion.

"Alright you lot, my patients need to rest; so you can all go anywhere else but here and chuckle your hearts out."

"Come on Doc, I'm fine" Haley protested.

"No you are not!" Quill replied sternly "You've had a serious head trauma; so you are to stay in than bed for the next twenty four hours, and then take it easy for the next few days. And certainly nothing strenuous for a week to ten days."

"But what about my dragon?" Haley continued to protest.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of Boris for you" Calla said reassuringly "Gage is with him now."

"That's not what I'm worried about. By the time I get out of here, everyone will have seen him and I was really looking forward to showing him off."

Haley's admission set everybody off laughing again, much to Quill Vieira's annoyance.

"OUT!" he demanded.

"Gotta go anyway" April decided "Sue still has my baby."

"Umm... actually Mom..." Abigail recoiled guiltily.

"What did you do with Rose" April asked sternly.

"We needed Sue to help us in the base, so we uh... left Rose with Smit Cloud Dancer" Abigail admitted.

The relief on Aprils face was intently obvious.

"Oh thank goodness" April sighed as she walked out into the corridor "As long as you didn't leave her with Shifty."

"HEY; that's not very nice!" Shifty looked offended as he approached the group from further down the corridor.

"Are you seriously trying to tell me that you are mature and responsible enough to be put in charge of a baby less than two months old?" April said accusingly.

"I guess you're right" Shifty agreed

"Damn straight!" April turned to walk away but then stopped "You are however... very handy in a crisis."

"Thanks Mrs. D" Shifty blushed.

"No, thank you for risking you life to keep us in touch with the outside."

"Well... we gotta do what we gotta do" he shrugged.

"But stay away from my baby" April insisted.

"Yes Ma-am."

'

* * *

'

The next month was a strange time for everyone in Western Sumatra. They had their base back, they had their lives back and the future held so much potential. People's reactions to the dragons at the complex was just as varied as it had been everywhere else in the world, but with one notable exception; everybody knew Blue, Calla and Haley, so they were all ready to believe what they were told about how friendly a dragon could be when treated right. Blue was surprised at how helpful Saffron turned out to be with all the knowledge she had gained from studying the Book of Gothi, and she soon filled an important role as Dragon Educator to people from all over the district.

Calla spent a lot of time catching up with her mother and father but still took time every day to fuss over Windstorm and go flying with her. Indeed all the riders took great care of their dragons, even Shifty who begged to be able to keep the Gronkle; not that Blue seriously tried to separate them because he could see how fond the dragon had become of his new rider.

It wasn't easy to teach Shifty the finer points of dragon care and piloting, because he had spent his entire life using the 'Learn by making mistakes' method. But with Saffron's help, Blue was slowly getting through to him and the riders were even getting used to the name Spud.

The remaining members of Sage's Raiders were put to work on the more low-tech areas of the complex, with the promise that they would be fed, housed and shipped off to join Sage on Mars as soon as the station-ship Deimos was ready to take them, assuming they still wanted to go.

'

* * *

'

During this time, the question had arisen about where to house the dragons and although the complex's massive garage at the lower end of the main tunnel seemed like the best place at first, Blue decided the ship had more advantages. Its large open bow and dark interior made it look a little like a cave (and dragons liked caves), plus being on the beach meant there was a ready supply of fish just off shore.

It did not take long for the Dragon Riders to set up quarters for both themselves and their dragons inside the hull, and the place soon started to look like the dragon stables on Berk. There were beds for the riders, all set well apart with open spaces for the dragons in between. Even though small dragons would normally separate themselves from the larger ones to live as a group, these Terrors had become accustomed to being part of the team and so they made their nests under their owner's beds.

On their first night back after Sages sudden departure, the riders made a large bonfire on the beach where they, along with some friends from the railgun complex, could all relax while pampering the dragons with cooked food, as thanks for a job well done. Doctor Vieira had checked out the bullet hole in Boris's wing and pleased to find it was healing nicely. The only treatment he gave was to apply a mild disinfectant cream and order Haley to look at it several times a day and report any changes.

After they had finished dinner, another question was put forward about how the moon Deimos had been turned into a Station Ship and brought to Earth.

"Well a lot changed on Mars after we left" April began the story. "The Deep Council had been deposed less than an hour after they had been exposed and one of the first things the two thousand citizens of Mars did, was to question everything that had been done over the last twenty years; every policy and every action, along with every idea that had been squashed."

"Deimos was an old idea?" Abigail gasped.

"Yes it was sweetie, but there's more" April smiled "Two things were common knowledge on Mars at that time; firstly they knew they were self sufficient and they did not need help from Earth anymore, and secondly they were acutely aware that Earth needed their help. You see the last colonists had arrived over sixteen years ago, leaving behind countless family members and friends, many of whom are still alive to this day. A few years ago, once the base had been extended to beyond our current needs, I and a number of other people proposed sending for more colonists, arguing we could easily cope with twenty to fifty more per-year. The proposal suggested the number could be increased as the base expanded.

The leaders of Mars Base One, under the direction of the Deep Council, turned the idea down flat making it clear to everyone that Mars had to be under affective quarantine to prevent any unknown pathogen from travelling with future colonists and causing a disaster; that was when the Deimos Plan was developed as a replacement for the MTV."

"The MTV Star Cruiser" Calla pointed out, still wanting people to use the name she had given it.

"Yes, the Star Cruiser" April relented "Deimos was planned to be a combined space station, colony and transport. It could be moved to Earth orbit, take on many hundreds of people, and transport them back to Mars. They could live inside the Deimos O'Neill cylinders for over a year in effective quarantine, and then be allowed to come to Mars once their good health had been established."

"And that was when they started building it" Shifty stated, pretending to know what he was talking about.

"No the Deep Council turned that idea down too" April corrected him "The only good thing to come out of it was the commencement of Mars Base Two. The Mars leadership had been resisting the idea of starting a second base as well, because they feared it would be too difficult for them to maintain total control of the population; but after the Deimos plan, they realised they needed to give the engineers something to keep them occupied so they wouldn't keep trying to bring more colonists."

"Something must have happened though, because Deimos is up there right now" Haley pointed out.

"That's the funny thing about designer's technicians and engineers; no matter how hard you may try, you can't stop them from thinking about problems and how to solve them" April smiled.

"Do you remember the construction robots we sent to the MTV after Blue and Calla had retrieved Luis and Abigail?" Sarah Spencer reminded them.

"Yeah, they were built to work on Mars but modified for a micro gravity vacuum" Blue noted "Hopefully they're still working away on asteroid 16 Psyche."

"No they're not" April revealed "After you Abby and Calla left the MTV to return to Earth, our plan was to take your replacements back to the asteroid belt to advance construction, but I got a call from the new Mars ruling authority. Now that Deep Council no longer had any influence over them, the Deimos Project had been quickly resurrected and begun."

"They knew the Mars base as it stood, was essentially a gift from the people on Earth" Sarah noted "and they wanted to return the favour."

"To get the rest of their families off the doomed planet?" Calla asked.

"Oh more than that" April replied "It was common knowledge that I was teaming up with the railgun staff to start construction of a space colony inside an asteroid, but they didn't know where. So they made contact with me to propose we combine our efforts; we would work on the asteroid, and they would build the smaller mobile colony to transport over ten times as many people as the MTV Star Cruiser could handle. It sounded like a good idea, but Sage had already shot you down from orbit so we knew he was a risk. To counter that risk, I modified the idea somewhat."

"The problem at first was, April couldn't tell me about the plan because we didn't want Sage finding out by listening in on our transmissions" Sarah admitted.

"So that was why you came back to Earth" Abigail said to her mother.

"Yes" April admitted "With the Deep Council out of the way I could have safely returned to Mars to give birth to Rose, but I used the fake excuse of not wanting to go back there because I was holding a grudge against them; it helped make my presence plausible to Sage. I'd already come to an agreement with Mars to send them the four NTP rocket motors that were in storage on the ship."

"Okay I'm not up to speed on your spacey acronyms, so what's an NTP rocket?" Haley asked.

"NTP stands for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion" Sarah informed them.

"Nuclear; isn't that dangerous with the radiation and the contamination and the long term dying?" Shifty said, slightly panicked.

"These are heat engines, not bombs" Sarah laughed "Natural uranium has a radiation level of less than 1%, and what we use is low enriched uranium with a level of under 4%. The really deadly stuff is highly enriched weapons grade at 90%." You see a normal chemical rocket had a propellant like hydrogen, and an oxidiser to help it burn extremely hot to create thrust. The NTP superheats the hydrogen as it enters the combustion chamber meaning you don't need to carry tonnes of liquid oxygen. The thrust is also twice as powerful and can burn longer; just right for moving something with the mass of a small moon."

"So after Dad had dropped you and Saffy off on Earth, he took the NTP motors to Mars" Blue nodded.

"Yes except he went the long way via 16 Psyche to pick up our construction team and all their autonomous constructors" April corrected her son.

"What's an autonomous constructor?" Shifty wondered if they would ever say anything he could understand.

"A robot" Saffron smirked

"So are you saying Amos, Jeana and Sid are on 16 Psyche, but they're up on Deimos?" Blue asked

"Along with Ruth and Jarred Kinderman and a several technicians from Mars" April added "They needed your Dad to travel with them on the way back to Earth because construction was not yet far enough along to hold the entire crew, so when they weren't working, the engineers and technicians would transfer over to the Star Cruiser to rest; it also gave them a good place to do maintenance on the autonomous constructors."

"Ah... the robots" Shifty repeated, proud that he had learnt something technical.

"So what did you do to stop Sage and the Raiders?" Calla asked.

"Effectively nothing" Sarah grinned "We gave him exactly what he demanded; a trip back to Mars. If he hadn't been so paranoid, he could have taken all the raiders he wanted; but because he went crazy upon seeing Deimos, things did not work out as he'd planned. We were hoping he would want to be one of the first people to leave Earth; then by the time he realised Luis was no longer on board the MTV, it would have been too late. There was even a chance he would not notice Deimos drifting along behind the ship, but an asteroid moon with a diameter of about twelve kilometres, is not an easy thing to hide.

"So he's gonna make it to Mars and take over" Calla gasped "What will happen to all your friends when he gets there?"

"Oh I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, I'm sure they'll all be fine" April smiled reassuringly

'

* * *

'

After a long, cramped and extremely boring journey through space, the raiders did eventually arrive in Mars orbit and began to prepare themselves for the upcoming attack on Mars Base One. Sage had spent much of his time during the trip going over the layout of the base with his men, and the important areas each team should take as soon as possible. To the best of his knowledge there were no firearms on Mars, but security did have torch batons and electric shock devices; fortunately for Sage, the Mars Security Office didn't even have enough members to make up a good poker game.

"Now remember" Sage barked as the men got into their landing capsules "Don't shoot unless you have to and only shoot people, not the vital base equipment. None of the people you encounter have ever been trained in combat techniques, so you should have no problem intimidating them, rounding them up and locking them away until we have the base under our control. Remember to fan out and not let anyone flank us, and we'll take the base sector by sector. Right... let's go."

A few minutes later, the capsules undocked one by one and started down towards the surface. Because the MTV had slowed down considerably before going into orbit, the capsules did not enter the thin atmosphere at an excessive velocity, enabling the use of large drogue chutes to keep control of decent until the landing rockets fired twenty meters before touchdown on the mobile landing pads.

When all four pods had landed safely, Sage took control of the mobile pads propulsion systems and moved the capsules into the open door of the currently unpressurised hanger area. The whole place looked surprisingly empty but that only made it easier to manoeuvre the mobile pads into position. As the last one passed by the entrance threshold, Sage started up the door close mechanism and re-pressurisation procedure, before picking up the comms microphone.

"Alright men; when the light above the hatch turns green, open it and move quickly to a defendable position."

It took a few minutes to seal the hanger and pressurise it with a breathable atmosphere, but when the process was complete, the raiders followed orders and made their way out. Thirty five raiders was considerably less than the sixty Sage had planned for, but he still felt confident he could have taken the base with only ten if he had too. There may be two thousand people on Mars, but many were children, elderly or just simply useless, in his twisted opinion; and on top of all that, he had the only trained army with guns.

Even though the hanger had been exposed to the deadly Martian atmosphere when open, Sage still did a thorough search of the room for any Mars Base personnel, who may have hidden in the room while wearing a pressure suit for protection. When the room had been swept, his men took up positions on either side of the main airlock door, ready for action when it opened.

It opened, and there was nobody there.

"I had a feeling they may be hiding" Sage smirked "We'll probably come across some kind of surrender party soon but keep alert, just in case they foolishly decide to fight back. Cook; take ten men and make your way down the left corridor, everyone else follow me."

"Yes sir" Joshua Cook nodded and picked out his team.

The two corridors acted as ramps leading down into the vast underground base, and both parties reached t bottom having found nobody in any of the side rooms. All was quiet in the first arched roofed plaza, giving Sage an idea as to what was going on.

"Is it just me, or does this place look like a cleaner version of the Railgun Complex we just left?" one of the raiders asked.

"The complex in Sumatra was built as a test of the Mars Base design" Sage explained "But of course Mars is now much bigger since expansion has never stopped."

This information felt quite comforting to the lower ranked raiders, who had begun to question in their minds if they had made the right decision in coming to Mars. Knowing now it was lust like the place they had left made the base feel more inviting.

"If it were me on the defensive, I'd put all my non-warriors in their rooms down in the accommodation section. And then I'd set up barricades on the far side of the engineering section; there are a lot of places to hide in there for an ambush. So we'll continue in that direction, but don't forget to check every room and closet on the way; a hostage or two would certainly help."

The raiders cautiously moved on through the base, crawling through every possible hiding place until they reached the sought after first engineering section, where Sage found a big surprise.

"What the... where's all the equipment? There should be CNC lathes in here, additive manufacturing... all kinds of machines and tools."

"Where do we go now sir?" Cook asked.

Sage shot an accusing glance at Cook as his mind raced searching for a solution, till eventually a light came on inside his mind.

"Yes; we need to get to one of the control stations" he realised and turned back towards the passage they had just left.

None of Sage's followers knew where they were going or why but after sneaking around blindly for so long, it felt good to have some sense of purpose at last. The sound of hard soles on hard floors echoed through the hallways as the entire group still followed behind their leader. Some more doubt was creeping into the minds of more of the men, again about whether listening to Sage and coming to Mars had been such a wise move but even now, no one dare raise the subject. At last they came to a room that looked to them like an updated version of the control room where Sage had overseen the launches back on Earth. He sat down at an already running computer and moved the mouse back and forth, bringing the monitor out of sleep mode and back to life.

"Now we'll find out what's going on here" Sage grinned as he made his way through the base systems.

"What have you got there sir?" Cook asked when Sage found the readings he wanted.

"This is a rundown of carbon dioxide levels throughout the base" he explained "There are air quality monitors all over the station, directing higher ventilation to areas with higher levels of CO2; and wherever you find elevated levels of CO2, you find people breathing."

Sage pointed to different section of the screen and continued his explanation.

"Look at this section near the airlock where we entered the base; a constant line of low CO2 on the graph until we arrived when the levels rose slightly, falling again when we moved off. You can see more signs of us proceeding through the base as CO2 levels in different sections rose a little before going back down. And here; this is where we will find everyone."

Sage now pointed to a graph that indicated a constant midrange level of carbon dioxide.

"I assume you know the section that particular reading is coming from?" Cook checked.

"Indeed I do" Sage grinned as he rose to his feet and returned to the door.

After the confusion he had felt after their first search attempt, Sage's ego was once again puffed up by the success of his plan to check the environmental control system for information.

The raiders walked on through empty corridor after empty corridor, still continuing to check every room but becoming less and less vigilant now that they knew where to find the humans n the base. When they came to the first habitation section, everything was the same as the other places they had encountered, but they knew they were close to their destination. One noticeable change was that most doors were wide open, but a few were still shut and locked.

As the group of men continued on deeper into Mars Base One, a door suddenly slid open ahead of them, and every last one of them suddenly stopped short in anticipation. The first thing to emerge was the sound of a flushing toilet, followed by a man in his mid sixties.

"LYNCH! What's going on here?" Sage growled, making the man jump.

"Oh... Commander Sage... you really gave me a fright; I wondered how long it would be till you arrived" Warwick Lynch said, still breathing heavily.

"That's General Sa..." Colonel Cook stepped forward to rebuke the old man, but Sage just held him back.

"Where is everyone Lynch?" Sage demanded "I know they're close."

"Oh most of them are in the gardens or the botanic factories, but a few are out and about doing maintenance."

"Show me!" Sage continued to be sharp.

"Certainly... this way."

The raiders followed the older man as he led them past all the accommodation in the sector, down several more passageways and into a large open area filled with vertical growing racks of plants and aquaponic systems, where about dozen people could be seen working.

"Would you like to address everyone?" Lynch asked.

"Yes; get them all to assemble in the plaza outside" Sage demanded.

Warwick Lynch went to a phone mounted by the door, pressing the PA button and relaying Sages order to the entire base. The people he could see in the room stopped what they were doing and made for the door greeting Sage along the way. They did not seem very pleased to see him, but tried to be respectful out of a desire to continue existing. When Sage stepped out into the plaza, he saw people walking in from several directions until about thirty Mars Base citizens stood attentively and waited for the man to speak.

"Where is everybody else?" Sage wondered.

"Oh this is all who are left" Warwick replied "The rest are gone."

"GONE WHERE?" the upset general shouted.

"Mostly to Base Two, but also to Phobos and Deimos; I think some have even returned to Earth but that might just be a rumour."

"Base Two is still under construction. It couldn't possibly support two thousand people" Sage insisted.

"Ah yes but you weren't here when the Deep Council was exposed and overthrown" Lynch explained "At first we were all put under house arrest while the new ruling body and the people of Mars decided what to do with us. One of the first things they did was to scrap all the slow moving plans we had made, and instead threw most of their efforts into the expansion of Base Two so more people from Earth could evacuate here. But when Doctor Spencer informed them that it was only a matter of time before you would return to take over, they changed their plans and started to move everything from here over to Base Two as space became available. You have to remember that the site of Base Two was chosen because of its proximity to several large underground caverns and lava tubes; so once those had been sealed off, they had a lot of space to store everything they needed. The first people left a few weeks later and there has been a slow but steady stream ever since. The last ones departed not long after we received word from Earth that the MTV was on its way and you were on it."

"SO WHY THE HELL ARE YOU STILL HERE?" Sage fumed as he realised his predicament.

"We had no choice; a few low ranking Deep Council members were shown mercy and were allowed to go too, but we were left here as prisoners."

"My prisoners?" Sage wondered.

"If you want to look at it that way but in real terms, you're all prisoners too" Lynch shrugged.

"I'm no prisoner" Sage growled "Colonel Cook; ready the men; we leave for an assault on Base Two in twenty four hours."

"Sorry but I'm afraid you won't" Lynch corrected "We don't have any long distance surface vehicles; former Base One personnel took them all, along with all the equipment to refurbish and refuel the space capsules you came in. Sorry Sage but you're stuck here with us, but don't worry; it's a very nice and spacious prison and we promise to teach all your men how to keep this place going before we all eventually grow to old and eventually die; you and your friends will have a fine life here."

Sage was incensed but surprisingly calm. He had long dreamed of returning to Mars and getting his revenge on the members of the Deep Council, and now he felt robbed. Florian Klein, the man who had tried to kill Sage was already dead, and although he was still furious with the rest of the Deep Council for not trying to stop Klein, he could not do anything to them now because he needed them.

Mostly he was angry with April Dias and Sarah Spencer; they had known what he would find on Mars but had kept the information from him, using Sages own desires against him. Suddenly his mind was changed; Sage no longer wanted the safety of Mars, he did not to rule over a captive society, even if the rest of his followers eventually did arrive from Earth. No; now he wanted to return to Earth, the doomed planet. He wanted to teach Spencer and Dias the valuable lesson that fooling Neville Sage was a certain death sentence.

Unfortunately being trapped on a hostile planet would make this impossible, but in his arrogance Sage figured he had managed the impossible once or twice before.

'

* * *

'

**Hi :D**

**I hope you didn't mind me going over some old ground with what had happened on Mars in the last book, but I was worried the sudden appearance of Deimos in Earth orbit would look like a lazy writing method of solving a story dead end. The whole thing (though highly improbable) had been planned from way back, but had to be going on behind the scenes for the sake of suspense.**

**I also hope the fate of Sage was satisfying enough for you Vin (and everyone else of course). There was a lot of conflict in my mind as to what to do with him including death by a fireball in the face from either Boris or Speedy, or not making it into orbit and crashing back to Earth to cause more trouble later. In the end I decided to go the route of 'Be careful what you wish for, you may not like it when you get it.'**

**What I assume will be the final chapter will be up in a few days, as soon as I've finished doing the re-writes.**

**Thanks for sticking with it, **_** Marty.**_


	66. Chapter 66

**Okay so you may be wondering why this last chapter has taken so long to be posted. Well when I had done the final proof read, I discovered something; it was crap.**

**So I cut the end off and spent two days just thinking about a better way to end the story. Eventually I worked it out but it meant that this is no longer the last chapter and there will be one or two more. The good thing is the new ending sets up the next story much better than the old one did.**

* * *

Chapter 66

Needless to say the Dragon Riders were very amused when they finally found out what had happened to Neville Sage and his raiders. Abigail and Saffron were a little upset about the wonderful place they had grown up in suddenly being turned into a prison, but they could see the sense in the idea.

"You shouldn't worry about it too much girls" April told them "I'm sure it won't be this way forever, but for now it is just what we need."

Eventually the initial excitement of regaining control of the complex subsided, accepting the dragons as a normal part of life became the next priority. Having them all at the ship meant small groups from the railgun could go be sent to be familiarised with the dragons; some people took to the beasts like a duck to water, while others even found a sleeping Terror to be excessively intimidating. Several people naturally asked Blue if they really needed to take part in these dragon acclimatisation sessions, to which Blue would give the following reply.

"As long as you are on Earth, an encounter with a wild dragon is a distinct probability. Also we need to find out how different people will react, so we can learn how to assist integration in the future."

Wording his answer to make the whole process sound like scientific research, certainly helped to convince many of the railgun staff of the validity of their presence in the dragons home, and they all did their best to assist Blue with his (ahem) research. Another day went by before Blue finally remembered at that he had something very important he needed to give to Doctor Spencer.

"A memory stick?" Sarah wondered about what Blue had put in her hand.

"Be very careful with it" the young man warned "This was given to me by Professor Adisa not long before he died. He said it contained files he had stolen from Prime Governor Redding's computer. He also told me he may have inadvertently copied any number of security protocols as well, so I wouldn't just plug it into our main system if I were you."

"Good advice" Sarah agreed as she took the stick "I'll get our best hackers to work on it."

Both the dragons and their riders were enjoying their stay in Sumatra, but eventually the Striker arrived back and Blue asked Captain Debar how long she and her crew planned to stay before heading back to Berk.

"I think everyone deserves a fair amount of shore leave" Debar told him "It's been quite a long journey; we might even do a crew rotation."

"Do you have to leave straight away do you?" April asked when she overheard what they were talking about.

She was enjoying having all her children together in one place for the first time since Rose was born.

"We don't have to go tomorrow Mom, but we can't stay forever. It's only a matter of time before more dragons emerge from the Hidden World and if the world isn't ready for them, we could end up with a second Dragon War. We'll give Haley plenty of time to recover from her concussion and then set a time and date for our departure."

Eavesdropping in on the conversation, Sarah Spencer weighed in on what was being said.

"Listen Blue, if you want to cover as much of the world as you can to pass on your dragon knowledge, you may want to consider a third vessel. The now departed General Neville Sage has left us several ships in reasonable condition, and you could easily take advantage of the situation."

"Wonderful idea" Blue agreed "When can we go and have a look at them?"

It was the next morning when Blue and Calla took the opportunity to see the vessels, giving Doctor Sarah Spencer and April Dias the chance to experience their first terrifying ride on the back of a dragon.

"Okay I can understand the attraction of the experience, but it's still making me nervous" Sarah admitted to Calla.

"Believe me Doctor Spencer, I've ridden with Blue a few times and it always feels better when you're the one controlling the dragon."

Over on Speedy, April Dias was having a very different experience.

"Your father would absolutely love this" she told her son.

"I get the feeling that as a former Air Force pilot, he would take to dragon riding like it was second nature" Blue agreed.

In less than fifteen minutes they were flying over Padang harbour and inspecting their choice of ships.

"Land on that one" Sarah pointed.

Calla did as requested and Blue followed her down. Sarah was very impressed by Windstorm but was still pleased to have something solid under her feet, even if only for a short time.

"What about this one?" Sarah started her sales pitch "Twin rear helipads with a hanger big enough for two or three dragons, armour plating, offensive armaments; you'd be quite safe on this little beauty."

"I can see the advantages of a naval vessel, but I'd rather not look like we were invading every port we entered" Blue admitted "I was thinking of a ship more like that one."

Blue pointed to a mid-sized merchant vessel on the other side of the bay.

"Four holds, two swing cranes, it's a bigger ship with more room for the dragons" Blue noted.

"Oil fired boiler though; not easy to get fuel for a ship like that" Sarah argued.

"If it has a boiler, what's to stop us from converting it to thermal solar?" April offered.

"Hmm" Sarah thought "It maybe bit too small for all the reflectors you'd need on the deck, but I'll think about it and maybe get some of our engineers on the task. It won't be ready by the time you want to leave, but we'll get it to you as soon as we can."

"Seems like a lot of trouble to go to" Calla shrugged.

"Ah but I have an ulterior motive" Sarah smirked "I can give you a list of places from China and Japan, up through the North American continent, Africa and all over Europe, where you can find more supplies and equipment we can use in our space colony endeavours. While you're travelling with your dragons, I'd like you to pick up what you can and bring as much as you can back here."

"You know you can always count on us" Blue nodded.

"Keep in touch when you can and we'll let you know when we've got a ship ready for you" Sarah smiled.

"Okay then, you've got a deal we'll leave soon with the Striker as a support ship, and get you all the stuff you need when we can" Blue nodded.

'

* * *

'

Now that the ship situation had been sorted, Doctor Spencer had to steady herself for the flight back to the railgun. Calla took Blue's mother to the ship so she could catch up with Abigail and Saffron, while Blue took Sarah back to base. When they arrived in the massive garage at the bottom of the main ramp, they found Haley out of bed but in a wheelchair but still in the presence of Doctor Quill Vieira as he examined Boris's wing.

"He was lucky the bullet missed the bone structure of the wing and passed straight through the skin membrane. I assume the bones of a dragon's wing are a strong, lightweight honeycomb composite of calcium and cartilage, so a bullet would probably cause a compound fracture effectively grounding the animal for the rest of its life; unless an appropriate splint can be applied and the wing wrapped to prevent movement."

"That's good to know Doc" Blue said "I'll try to remember what you said if anything goes wrong in the future."

"Take careful note of anything you find out in your travels, it would probably be advantageous if we were to start a dragon medical journal."

"Already have one Doc, but it does need translating" Blue informed him.

Doctor Vieira re-dressed the minor wound, took a blood sample and a mouth swab and retired to his lab, firmly telling Haley to stay in the wheelchair.

"We're very lucky" Haley noted "With his skill and equipment, we are bound to learn more about the dragons that Gothi could ever have hoped to discover."

"We should let him get samples from all the dragons before we leave" Blue nodded.

"I was really proud of Boris" Haley nodded "I could tell he was very uncomfortable with the examination and treatment, but he seemed to know Doctor Vieira was trying to help and he stayed really calm."

"I think Boris also saw how you trusted the doctor, and he trusted you" Blue added as he scratched the Nightmare's chin "An extra baked fish for you tonight boy."

With Doctor Vieira back in the medical centre, Haley now had the opportunity to extract herself from the wheelchair and stretch her legs while Blue started re-fitting Speedy's saddle.

"Blue, have you given much thought about where we go from here?" Haley asked.

"Do you mean for the future or our literal direction when we leave?" he wondered.

"Both I suppose, but mainly the second one."

Blue stopped fastening the saddle girth strap and sighed.

"Where we head to next is all I can think about" he admitted "I really want to go back to Berk and check on the entrance to the Hidden World, as well as find Dragon Island. But at the same time I also want to get back to eastern Canada and see what Doom and Emerson have discovered, while letting everyone up there know about the opportunity for evacuation. I mean they can stay with Gran if they want, but they should be told they don't have to.

Then there's another choice to make; do we try and spread the word about dragons ourselves, or would it be better to train up more Dragon Riders in the area around Berk and let them spread out around the world from there. Thinking about these things kind of makes it hard to sleep and I have to make a choice soon."

Haley looked down at her feet, feeling a little guilty about having to add to Blue's burden.

"Well I have an idea about where we should go first... well it's more of a request but... it's more than just a request because I have to go there."

Haley stopped talking when she realised she had started to babble somewhat. Noticing how nervous she was, Blue grabbed a chair for himself and motioned for Haley to sit back in the wheelchair.

"Tell me about it; where do you have to go?" he asked.

"It's kind of a long story but I'll try to make it short" she began "Back in El Centro we would spend some of our time in the bunker of Prime Governor Redding. I don't know what you've been told about it, but it was a dark cramped place of relative safety where one third of the population would live on a rotating basis. If there was a meteor strike in the surrounding area, anyone inside the bunker was safe, while back at town you took your chances."

"Why didn't everyone live in there?" Blue asked.

"There wasn't room, and we weren't allowed. Some of the men we just sent to Mars were guards at the bunker, and they ran the place like a prison. Inside there were two large rooms just like this garage, filled with lathes, drill presses, welders, all kinds of machines. The guards would let us use the equipment to build and repair what we needed on the farms, and in return we would provide them with food, as well as doing repairs on their equipment too. During the time we were inside the bunker, we would eat and sleep in the same rooms, bunked down next to the machines."

"Okay I get the idea" Blue nodded "but I assume there's more"

"Well... although it was safer inside, there was still the occasional... accident. Over the years several people were killed when something went wrong with a machine. In most cases we would take the deceased outside for burial, but sometimes we couldn't recover the body. My mother was one of the people killed in a fire several years ago, and some of those bodies were never recovered intact."

"I'm sorry... I didn't know; but why..."

"I'm getting to that" Haley interrupted "Just before we fled California on the One and All, we found out the truth about what was deeper inside the bunker; where we were never allowed to go. We found out about the luxury lifestyle Prime Governor Redding and his people enjoyed, and... and..."

Haley's bottom lip started to shake.

"...and of how they had some of our people as essentially slave labour. When there was an accident, Redding would use the opportunity to boost his staffing levels by taking some of the injured beyond the barrier and telling us they were among the casualties. When they recovered from their injuries, they were put to work. Blue... I can't know for sure, but one of those slaves could be my mother; and even if she isn't, we still need find out if any of Redding's former prisoners are still there."

"I see" Blue pondered "When Sage took over after killing Redding, there was nothing you could do. But now Sage has gone..."

"I need to go back, and I'll go alone if I have to; just me and Boris" Haley insisted.

"You won't have to go alone" Blue said reassuringly "We'll bypass all other countries for now and head straight for California. We'll decide what to do next once we've ascertained what the situation really is."

"Thank you Blue" she smiled through her tears.

The two stood up and hugged before Blue finished up with Speedy's saddle. When all was set he waved goodbye and flew off up the tunnel. He thought deeply about Haley's situation, remembering how desperate he felt when his father and Abigail were trapped in Earth orbit, with little hope of survival and no apparent means of escape. Not even knowing if her mother was alive or dead must be unbearable for Haley, yet she never let it get in the way of what she needed to do up until now, when the time was right at last.

'

* * *

'

Back at the ship, Blue could see the Dragon Riders getting into all kinds of mischievous fun with their dragons on this balmy afternoon. Saffron must have told Shifty about Fishlegs Ingerman's famous manoeuvre, the Gronkle Drop and Stop because he and Spud were practicing it out over the water. Both were soaking wet, indicating that they had not quite mastered it yet.

Abigail and Gage were having a ball confusing Lucy and Ricky by running around the dragon in opposite directions, leaving the poor Zippleback in a slight tangle, while Calla and Windstorm were just relaxing in the shade of the supertankers hull. Blue waved as he and Speedy flew past into the ship before landing near their little section of living space.

"Okay Bud let's get that saddle off and then you can go play with the others."

Speedy did not have to be told twice and as soon as he was burden free, the happy Night Fury bounded back outside and started goading Windstorm into a game of dragon tag.

"Hey Babe, welcome back" Calla smiled while relaxing in her deck chair "Sit down please, I have something important to tell you."

"Sure thing; what's up" he replied, sitting on the side of the ramp.

"When we leave, we have to head back the way we came so we can check on Gage's Mum and Dad in Lyon."

Blue suddenly felt something heavy deep in his gut. The way Calla was talking, it was as if he had no choice in the matter.

"Err... no, we head east across the Pacific towards San Diego" he said firmly.

Calla sat up and looked at Blue like he was crazy.

"But I promised Gage we would..."

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?" Blue snapped "Especially without talking to me about it first."

"Well two reasons actually; firstly because you still hadn't made up your mind about which way we should go, and secondly because you yourself said we were both leaders of the Dragon Riders."

"Yes both of us; which means you don't make decisions like this without discussing it with me first" Blue insisted.

"Okay I'm sorry" Calla said in frustration "but that still doesn't explain why you're so upset. You saw how some of the people of Lyon reacted to the dragons, so Gage is a little worried about his parents; and I must admit, I am too."

"I'm upset Calla because Haley just told me that her mother, who at one time she thought was dead, may be still alive back in El Centro California; so I told her we'd go straight there."

"Without talking to me first? Calla asked sarcastically.

"Oh come on, this is different and you know it." Blue argued.

"Why, because you're the high and mighty Dragon Master?"

"I never said I was the Dragon Master" Blue fumed.

"No but you're acting like the Lord of the Dragon Butt Heads" Calla hissed.

"Well now you're just being childish" Blue sneered.

"You want to see childish without looking in a mirror? Then watch this."

Reaching down beside the deck chair, Calla removed her sword from it sheath and brandished it at Blue's throat.

"Come on then" she goaded.

"I'm not going to... OWW!"

In an attempt to wipe the smug smile from his face, Calla whipped the sword around and slapped the flat of the blade against Blue's hip. The pain and humiliation soon got to him as he reached over his shoulder and removed his own blade.

"Right, if you're gonna be like that..."

Further down the beach, Abigail heard her brother cry out and wondered what was going on.

"Are they fighting?" she asked with concern.

"Oh they're just sparing for practice; this should be fun" Gage replied.

Blue tried to mirror Calla's manoeuvre but she just brought her blade into block.

"HA! You'll have to try harder than that" she taunted.

And try harder he did. Moving fast, Blue swung the blade around to his left, setting Calla a little off balance as she blocked again. With the upper hand at last, Blue continued to swing his sword around in a circular arc from left to right and back again, keeping Calla constantly on a defensive stance.

"Had enough yet?" his smug smile returned.

"I tell you when I've had enough" Calla replied "First I have to teach you not to be an arrogant hypocrite."

She pirouetted around so fast, she was able to get under Blue's defence, intending to end the fight with a slap hard slap to his left thigh that should knock him sideways. What Calla had not noticed though was her grip had twisted slightly during her frantic defending. Out of the corner of his eye, Blue could see the razor sharp edge of Calla's sword was about to cut deep into his leg. He jumped back as quickly as he could but he was not quite quick enough. The tip of the blade sliced through his trousers, leaving a three inch long gash halfway up his thigh.

"Oh no!" Abigail gasped as her bother fell onto the sand.

'

* * *

'

**Sorry to say that the last chapters are not written yet, but I'll get started on them straight away. There is still no work to go to, so I've got plenty of time to write.**

**Bye for now,**_** Marty.**_


	67. Chapter 67

**It feels a little weird to be posting chapters as soon as they are finished but there are only a few to go. Hope you like, **_**Marty.**_

* * *

Chapter 67

"I don't believe you people!" Doctor Vieira declared as he tied off the last stitch in Blue's leg.

"You fly around on what most sane folk would call monsters..." he snipped the loose ends of the suture.

"...creatures that could easily bite your head off..." he placed the instruments he'd used inside the autoclave.

"...or burn you to a crisp if they so much as sneeze..." he threw out the blood soaked gauze and picked up a fresh roll.

"...and the only injuries I see are caused by human cruelty, recklessness and stupidity" he started to wrap the wound.

"What can I say?" Blue shrugged "It's often been said that animals are better than people, because they are not openly deceptive; what you see is what you get."

"Don't get all philosophical with me lad, just tell me what you were doing out there."

"Sparring Doc; our trainers may have been experts but we only had half a day of instruction" Blue explained.

"Sparring eh? Well it seems to me you should be training with sticks till you improve your control."

Blue looked away guiltily; he hated to lie but he didn't want to get Calla into trouble.

"Okay I'm going to let your family in to see you now, while I go and tell Calla you're alright" Doctor Vieira continued "She hasn't spoken much since your little... incident and I fear she may be suffering from mild shock."

"Maybe I should..."

"Maybe you should stay here until I get back" the doctor cut Blue off before he could suggest going too.

Saffron was the first to run into the room after Doctor Vieira left, followed by Abigail at a more leisurely pace, and April carrying little Rose.

"Can I see your stitches?" Saffron asked excitedly.

"Sorry but they're covered up by the bandages" Blue replied, tussling his sisters hair.

The stern look on April's face made Blue more than a little nervous.

"I can't believe how reckless you've been" April shook her head.

"Doctor Vieira said the same thing" Blue admitted.

"If you two are going to practice fencing with each other, I hope you'll be more careful in the future" April insisted "You're lucky it happened here and not in the middle of nowhere."

"I promise we'll be more careful in the future" Blue smiled weakly.

"Training? Hmph!" Abigail sneered derisively "I saw what you were doing; you were fighting and you were going at it hard."

"Yeah well after what we'd both experienced during the raid on the complex, we knew we had to train harder... we just... went a little too far" Blue shrugged.

"I'm just glad you're okay" April nodded.

The family chatted for a while until Doctor Vieira returned to ask Blue a question.

"Feel like another visitor? There's someone here who would like to see you."

He pushed the door open a little and a small frightened face looked around from outside.

"Can... can I come in?" Calla's voice sounded like she was about to throw up.

"Mom, can you and the girls give us some time please?" Blue asked.

"Certainly" April replied with a wink "Just be sure she hasn't got a bowie knife stuffed up her sleeve."

"Ha ha; very funny" Blue rolled his eyes.

"I... I'm so sorry" Calla said to April as she walked by.

"Don't worry too much my dear, I'm sure there's plenty of blame we could dump on my son as well."

Alone in the room at last, Calla just stood by the door, clasping her hands and looking down at her feet.

"Doctor Vieira told my parents you said it was an accident" she said.

"I thought it was best" Blue nodded.

"Y-you don't have to protect me, I know what I did was... well... this time I feel like I should be punished... but I can't bring myself to tell everyone I tried to kill you."

"You may have wanted to teach me a lesson but I don't believe you really meant to hurt me, let alone kill me" Blue insisted.

"I may not have wanted to kill you, but..."

"Listen Calla, I had some time to think while Doctor Vieira was berating me, and I think you were right" Blue admitted.

"What, to put you in the hospital?" Calla gasped.

"No, I mean I did expect you to consult me before making important decisions, while I never considered doing the same for you. In the end though, I still believe fighting it out with swords rather than just talking about it may have been a bit of a bad move."

"No arguments here... I'm so sorry Blue" she sniffed.

"I asked Doctor Vieira if I would have a big, cool looking scar when I healed but he said no because he was a brilliant doctor, and any scar would be tiny and look pathetic."

"Like me" Calla sighed.

"I don't want to hear that from you" Blue insisted "So we had a fight; couples do that all the time."

"Are we still a couple?" Calla asked.

"We are as far as I'm concerned, so if you've changed your mind...

"NO! I um... haven't changed my mind" Calla looked down again.

"You know, Abby told me lots of stories about Mom and Dad arguing over all kinds of things" Blue shrugged.

"Yeah? How many flesh wounds did your Mom inflict on him?" Calla asked sceptically.

"I don't know, half a dozen perhaps?" Blue smiled.

"Liar" Calla smiled back "You know, after the wounds inflicted to you, me and Haley, I get the feeling people are going to start taking bets on which one of the Dragon Riders will suffer the next major injury" Calla gave a little smile.

"My money's on Shifty" Blue smirked.

With the ice finally broken, Calla walked over to Blue's bed and took his hand.

"At last, they're finally kissing!"

"Get away from that door Saffy" April ordered.

"So have you thought what are we going to do about Haley and Gage?" Calla wondered.

"What do you think?" Blue asked back.

"Well... if I think about it... Haley's situation does sound more serious" Calla answered "But you still should have told me rather than just blow up like you did."

"Agreed on both counts, but at least I didn't start a fight over it."

"Don't rub it in" Calla glared.

"Sorry; but there is another alternative, although I don't like it and I doubt you will either."

"If you're talking about going to California via Lyon, I doubt Haley is going to be thrilled by the idea."

"No Calla, I'm thinking we go to both places simultaneously."

"You mean... split up?"

"Remember it was just the two of us who set out to find the Deadly Nadder on the Faroe Islands, and now we've got several well trained dragons on our team. As I said, I've been thinking and one of the things I was thinking about was how much more Earth we could cover with more than one team."

Calla could see the sense in what Blue was saying, but she still did not like the idea of taking a group by herself.

"This won't work" she insisted "I may have a lot of experience with Windstorm and the Terrors, but I don't have your dragon knowledge."

"It will work; Haley and I will go to California, while you take Gage and Abigail northwest on the Striker. Before you do though, I want to talk to Mom; if she is willing to let Saffy go too, you'll have your own little dragon scholar on board and if not, there's always DeGroot when you get back to Berk."

Calla rested her face in her hands and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"I don't know... I'll have to think about it... sleep on it... assuming I can sleep after what happened today."

"Yeah I'm sorry to hit you with this now; Doctor Vieira says you may have a mild case of shock."

"There was nothing mild about it" Calla admitted "but I feel much better now we've talked... I was so scared you wouldn't want to see me or talk to me."

"Not a chance" Blue smiled warmly as they embraced.

A small tear rolled down Calla's cheek as she held him. She had long thought that her temper was now under control, but it was clearly difficult to break some old habits and she was glad to know her friends still supported her.

'

* * *

'

A few days later, Boris continued to heal well, Haley was given a clean bill of health by the medical staff, and Blue was not using his support crutch much anymore. The Dragon Riders departure drew ever closer but before they did go, some important communication equipment was set up inside the main vehicle garage at the bottom of the main entry tunnel. When everything was ready, all the dragons and their riders were gathered and seated together in front of several cameras.

"Alright, we've made contact with Deimos" Willow Pascal told the group.

Less than a second after the words left her mouth, the face of Luis Dias appeared on the large screen in front of them.

"Hello everyone; it is so good to see you all again."

"Hi Dad" three of the four Dias children waved back while the youngest one just looked at her strange surroundings in wonder.

"Hello Darling" April smiled as her heart picked up the pace a little.

"I hope you don't mind, but I was asked to put this call on live feed throughout the station" Luis admitted "The pictures you sent us have sent the entire place dragon crazy, and everyone could hardly wait to see more of them."

"Well they're all here, so I may as well get started with the introductions" Blue stood up and placed his hand on the dragon beside him "This is Speedy, and he is a breed of dragon known as a Night Fury."

The big black dragon was a little confused by the head and shoulders of Luis Dias in front of him; the man seemed to be oversized and yet very flat.

"Whoa boy" Blue had to wrap his arms around the dragons neck and pull back to prevent Speedy from knocking the monitor over.

"What can you tell us about him?" Luis asked.

"Well as his name suggests, he is very fast and also very friendly. Unfortunately he has the personality of an overly excited puppy, but I'm sure he'll settle down eventually" Blue said as he strained to keep the dragon under control.

When he finally managed to get Speedy to sit and be good, he called his other dragon to join him.

"This is Firefly the Terrible Terror" Blue introduced "If you think the names of the dragon breed are a bit aggressive, you have to remember they were all named by Vikings who were at war with these creatures at the time. Another example of this is Calla's dragon Windstorm.

Calla rose up upon hearing her name and stepped forward, holding the reins of her dragon.

"Windstorm is what the Vikings called a Deadly Nadder" Blue continued "She's very smart and very attractive... and so is the dragon."

Everybody laughed at Blue's joke except for Calla, who blushed and gave Blue a 'you're dead' kind of look.

"Moving on we have Haley with her Monstrous Nightmare Boris. He's a very aloof kind of dragon with the incredible ability to set himself on fire; I'd demonstrate but it would set off the sprinklers."

"He looks mean" Luis commented.

"So do you Dad, but we still love you anyway" Saffron called out to more laughter.

"Touché" Luis shrugged.

"This is our Gronkle and his rider" Blue wave the two forward "One I named Spud and the other one is Shifty; I'll leave it up to you to work out which is which because I think the names are interchangeable."

"Very Funny; I'm Alvin, but everyone calls me Shifty" the young man corrected the confusion.

"And you admit it?" Luis gasped causing another round of laughter.

"Gronckles are an incredible dragon" Blue informed his audience "As well as normal food, a Gronckle can also digest rocks and can regurgitate lava and molten metals; these can also be fired as projectiles."

Up in orbit Luis was discovering that doing a live feed all throughout Deimos may not have been a good idea after all. Not only had he started to receive internal messages on his computer, but people actually started turning up in the comms room. He wished he had bothered to lock the door because some of Blue's old friends poked their heads around the door after lightly tapping on it.

"Can we come in Luis?" Amos Hooke asked hopefully.

"Alright but be quiet" Luis said sharply.

Amos was often in the company of his fellow technical engineers from the railgun, Jeana Davy and Sid Cartwright, but to Luis's surprise, it seemed like half the bases small population was now with them outside his door.

"Good grief what are you all doing here? You can see what I see on your own monitors!" Luis barked.

"But we've got questions to ask Blue" Sid pleaded.

"NO! This is my last chance to spend a short amount of time with my family before they leave the Railgun Complex. We don't have time to turn this into a lecture" Luis was adamant.

A few who could not see properly left disappointed, but the rest just jockeyed for the best position around the screen as Blue finished up his talk.

"Okay if you're ready Dad, the last dragon is ridden by Abby and our new friend from France, Gage... hey I don't even know your last name" Blue admitted.

"Fabron" Gage informed him.

"Gage Fabron" Blue repeated "Now you may be wondering why the last dragon had two riders, and this is the answer."

Luis shook his head and sighed as all the people around him made the noises of surprise when vision of the latest dragon came on the monitor.

"It's got two heads!" Amos gasped.

"I can see that" Luis replied angrily "I have two eyes."

"This is... or should I say these are Lucy and Ricky, our Hideous Zippleback; she is the largest of the dragons on our team and their attack ability is quite unique, as you will soon see."

Blue picked up a hand pump and nodded to Abigail who whispered to Lucy.

"Gas him girl... just a little... that's enough!"

Blue put the pump nozzle into the green gas and withdrew the plunger, drawing most of the gas inside the clear cylinder. He then waved his hand through the remaining cloud to dissipate it. He then gave Gage a nod and pumped out a tiny amount close to Ricky's snout.

"Light it up boy" Gage told his half of the dragon.

The sparks from Ricky's flint like fangs was just the first surprise, and when the small cloud of green gas erupted n a ball of yellow flame, there were many oo's and ah's both in orbit, and echoing around the complex garage.

"And that concludes the dragon introduction so I'll hand over to Mom" Blue smiled and withdrew.

"Can you believe these giant winged lizards took precedent over your new daughter?" April said as one of the camera operators zoomed in closer.

"I just hope my friends here are just as impressed with little Rose as they were with the dragons" Luis said looking over his shoulder at the people fleeing the room.

"Oh yes!"

"Of course."

"Beautiful baby."

"Congratulations."

A flurry of voices came from the group as they filed back in.

"Just go" Major Dias shrugged.

"Thanks Luis... sorry Luis" Sid said, his head nodding up and down.

"Now that the gang's not here, let me say I love you both and little Rose looks perfect."

"Of course she does; I know how to cook a kid" April replied proudly.

Luis spent the rest of his time chatting with the family and was most impressed when he was told of how Saffron had used Blue's noted to teach herself ancient Berkian and was well on her way to becoming the Earth's third dragon expert.

"I want to go on the Striker, but Mom says I'm too young" the girl said with disappointment in her voice.

"I'm afraid I have to agree" Luis nodded.

"I've asked Blue to bring me a Terrible Terror but by the time I get it, I probably will be old enough to go."

"By that time, you, Rose and your mother may all be up here with me" Luis pointed out.

"I never thought of that" Saffron pondered "I know I didn't want to come to Earth, but I quite like it here. Please Mom, please Dad, I'll be okay on the Striker; Abby will be there, the dragons will protect us and I get to see more of this planet than just this tiny area. I've spent most of my life inside Mars base One and the rest here. I want to see more; I want to do more."

April and Luis stared at each other silently across the long distance between them. Their second youngest daughter had made a good case and although they still thought she was too young, they did not want to force her to miss out on a rare opportunity to learn and grow.

The signal started to deteriorate as Deimos started to pass around to the other side of the planet. Knowing his time was short, Luis quickly said he would go along with April's final decision, whatever it turned out to be. The signal cut halfway through his last words of goodbye for now, love you all.

"I think Dad was trying to say it's okay with him without over riding your decision " Blue said to his mother.

"Yes he was" April agreed "I'd feel better if it were both you and Abigail looking out for her but... okay, Saffy can go.

Saffron Hikaru Dias leapt into the air, shouting a cheer of joy and triumph.

"I promise I'll study hard Blue" she smiled broadly "Calla's team of riders will have all the answers they need when it come to dragons; if Gothi knew it, I'll know it."

"Don't forget to make your own observations too" Blue added "Gothi knew a lot about dragons but even she was aware she did not know everything. I'll give you a letter you can pass on to DeGroot when you get to Berk, asking him to give you the rest of the Berk Writings in his possession, as one of the heirs of Hiccup and Astrid."

"I won't let you down brother" Saffron grinned proudly.

'

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'

**Okay... so if all goes well, the next chapter should be the last one. Good timing too because I hear news that Adelaide should be winding back isolation restrictions soon so I may get back to work soon (not holding my breath though).**

**Thanks again for reading and I'll be back soon :D**


	68. Chapter 68

**Far out dudes and dudettes, we made it to the end at last. I just checked the publication date of the first chapter and it was 362 days ago; 3 days shy of a full year. So if you started back then and got this far, I applaud you. I don't know if anyone else picked up my error in the last chapter but the Florida Guest sure did; I had originally credited a line to Calla when it was said by Abigail. Not the first time I've made that kind of mistake but I usually catch it in the re-writes.**

**I do hope you like the ending but if you don't, just remember the deleted first draft ending from two chapters ago was far worse (trust me on this).**

* * *

Chapter 68

Captain Georgette Debar stood alone of the bridge of the Striker, pouring over charts of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. She could not simply reverse the course her vessel had taken from Europe to Sumatra because of the various ocean currents she had to take into account. The only really major change Debar had to worry about was how far off the African west coast the Striker needed to sail to obtain the most advantage, but minor course corrections before and after that single leg could still save them almost a day at sea by the end of their journey.

Her ships short stay tied up to the huge tanker in Sumatra had brought even more modifications from the railgun staff, the most notable of which was that the rear deck had been converted into what could only be referred to as a dragon hanger. Although five large dragons had been more than the Striker could handle for long periods, the new three dragon crew could easily be accommodated. With the new course almost plotted, Debar ignored the bridge crew as they entered and started up the ships systems; at least until one of them spoke to her.

"Captain, Spencer and Dias have come to see you off" Peter Moke informed her.

"Show them in please" she replied.

With all the changes made to the huge sea tug by Sarah's people, a few technicians from the railgun complex had volunteered to join the latest crew rotation to provide maintenance expertise and support for the Striker, and Peter had been one of them. While Sarah and April went over the last of the alterations with the vessels captain, Calla, Windstorm and Speedy were just arriving back at the tanker after their morning flight. Doctor Vieira had forbidden Blue from dragon riding until he felt confident the young man's leg had healed enough not to risk tearing his stitches.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad" she smiled upon seeing her parents waiting for her.

With the Striker about to depart, Calla knew her parents would be down to see her off, even though she and the other Dragon Riders would not leave for almost an hour after the ship. With her dragons following along, the three Linwoods took a walk up the beach to talk and just enjoy these last few hours together. At first they strolled along in silence just enjoying each other company, until Ursula spoke a few minutes later.

"We're both very proud of you Calla" she said.

"Thanks Mom."

"I know I... over reacted back when I first saw the dragon... and your um..."

"My burn scar?"

"Yes... I'm sorry I falsely blamed your dragon."

"Windstorm Mom" Calla smiled.

"Yes... Windstorm" Ursula nodded.

"It's okay Mom; I'm not happy about the scar of course but I'm learning to live with it; I'm just glad it isn't on the front of my face. On the side I can partially hide it with my hair, and Blue certainly helped; it doesn't worry him at all."

"Ah yes... Blue... you two have gotten pretty close" Ursula said nervously.

"Yeah... it's been great working with him and uh... I think he's the one for me" Calla blushed.

"Even though you tried to kill him recently?" Maynard half joked.

"Not funny Dad" Calla sneered.

"Maybe not; but even though you've come a long way, I'm hoping you will try harder to control that temper of yours in the future."

"I will Dad... funny thing is Saffron told me they had a name for people like me back on ancient Berk; we were called Berserkers. Calm and normal most of the time but prone to bouts of absolute fury when challenged; but please don't worry Dad, I really am working on it."

"Well they say admitting you have a problem is the first step to defeating it" Ursula noted "now if I can only get your father to admit his problems..."

"Not funny Dear" Maynard said.

"Yes it was Dad" Calla disagreed.

"Now Calla, about you and Blue..." Ursula changed the subject "...are you two..."

"In love? I think we are" Calla admitted with a smile.

"No dear I meant have you... and he... ever... um..."

"Kissed? Of course we have Mom."

"Kissed... yes... but what I mean is... have you... erm..."

"NO MOM!"

Calla tried to laugh off her mother's question, but then she suddenly realised something; if she and Blue had been excessively intimate, would she even have the nerve to tell her parents?

"Oh... good... I mean..."

"It's okay Mom; we haven't made plans or anything, but I suppose sometime in the future..."

"Please dear, don't say any more" Ursula didn't want to think about it.

"You're mothers been very worried" Maynard admitted.

"Now that I've gotten to know Windstorm, I'm beginning to see what wonderful protection she provides for you" Ursula admitted.

"Yeah I'm really lucky Blue gave her to me" Calla looked over at the Nadder.

"Oh... I didn't know he'd given her to you; so he wanted the black one did he?" Ursula asked.

"No; he didn't know about Speedy then, Blue was trying to avoid taking on a single dragon himself until he had helped the rest of us to get used to them."

"I suppose after seeing you blasted off in to space last year, somehow travelling with a dragon doesn't seem quite as bad. At least we're all still on the same planet but I must admit though, I still wish you were staying here with us."

"We've got an important job to do Mom" Calla insisted.

"Indeed you do... just another reason why we are so proud of you" Maynard nodded.

"How long do you think it will be before you or Blue will be able to meet up with Emerson and Harriet?" Ursula asked with concern.

"She prefers to be called Doom" Calla corrected her mother.

"Sorry but I refuse to call my daughter in law, and the mother of my first grandchild, Doom" Ursula insisted.

"Okay, it's your funeral" Calla shrugged "It won't be in the immediate future, we've got too much ground to cover so I'm guessing around six months; but don't worry, they can keep in contact and they're safe for now."

"For now?" Ursula repeated.

"Forget I said that."

When they arrived back at the ramp, Calla excused herself so she could make final preparations before departure. She was particularly worried about poor Spud, since Shifty had never gone on any long dragon trips before.

"I'll see you up on the helipad before I go" Calla said as she hugged her parents.

While Maynard and Ursula climbed the stairs to the main deck, Calla made her way deep into the hold to her bunk with Windstorm and Speedy still at her heels. They had not gone very far however when Speedy started sniffing the air and getting very excited.

"What's up with you" Calla asked, but she soon realised what it must be when the Night Fury ran on ahead.

Sure enough a little further on, they came across Blue doing some final packing of his own.

"Babe you're back" Calla smiled "What did Doctor Vieira say?"

"Well the good news is he's given me, Haley and Boris the all clear to take off again" Blue nodded.

"And the bad news?"

"I'll have to take my own stitches out in about a week" Blue admitted "He said I'm welcome to stay so he can do it, but I think we'd better get going before Haley decides she can't wait any longer and takes off alone."

"I'm still wondering if my team should be the ones with the Striker as a backup vessel; it seems to me that you and Haley need it more" Calla said with concern.

"Oh I feel pretty sure we'll be okay with Speedy and Boris" Blue took her hands in his "Plus I don't think your parents would be so understanding about your team leaving without a support ship, and you'll need to have Captain Debar close by to back you up if Shifty gets into any trouble."

"True... and being French she may be a voice of reason in Lyon as well" Calla agreed.

"Also I've got these" Blue held out a small package.

"Letters?" Calla said after looking inside.

"My Mom got our captive raiders to write them to their families back in California, telling them that although they failed, there is still a trip to Mars waiting for them if they want to come. Hopefully an offer like that will go a long way to healing the rift between us."

"I hope you're right" Calla nodded, giving back the letters.

They both fell silent for a moment before falling into each other's arms.

"I'll miss you" Calla admitted as they embraced.

"I don't know why; your aim has been pretty good in the past" Blue chuckled.

"You had to go there, didn't you?" Calla smirked and thumped her fist lightly on his chest.

"Could let the opportunity go by... but seriously, I'll miss you too."

"Then practice" Calla replied as she lifted her lips to meet his.

The muffled sound of the Strikers horn echoed inside the hull, telling them it was almost time to leave.

"There goes Debar and the crew, so I guess we'd better get the dragons saddled" Blue sighed.

"Five more minutes" Calla insisted.

It was closer to fifteen minutes before an excited Night Fury finally flew out of the tanker with a Deadly Nadder only half a second behind. As they circled back high over the ship, Blue and Calla could see the stern helipad with Abigail and Gage on Lucy and Ricky, while April, Sarah and Calla's parents stood nearby. Meanwhile the rest of the dragons were perched with their riders on top of the ships superstructure, looking like an odd bunch of nautical gargoyles; then as they brought their dragons down onto the pad, Firefly and Daisy swooped down to join their partners.

"About time you two got here; where have you been?" Sarah Spencer asked.

"Where do you think they were?" Abigail responded first "They were probably down in the hold saying goodbye with their lips."

"Abby, not in front of Calla's parents" Blue angrily whispered to his sister.

"I wouldn't worry too much Blue" Calla shrugged "Mom and Dad already suspected we were having s..."

"CALLA!" Ursula snapped as she turned red.

"Okay everybody, lets calm down" April asked "and Abby, don't think I'll forget about your little outburst before you get back."

"Sorry Mom... I was just tired of waiting" Abigail admitted.

"Well now that everything is awkward, I guess this is goodbye" Blue admitted as he went to hug his mother."

"Take good care of yourself" April told him.

"And you give little Rosie a kiss from me" he replied.

"Here's a satellite radio for you" Sarah said as she handed the device over "Haley has a small solar panel in her pack to charge it."

"Thanks; we'll do our best to track down any useful gear when we get the chance" Blue nodded.

"No hurry, you can do all that when you've got all the important tasks done first" Sarah replied.

Having kissed her mother and father goodbye, Calla climbed back into her saddle, prompting Abigail and Gage to do the same.

"See ya Babe" she smiled with sadness in her eyes before urging Windstorm into the sky.

Seeing their teenage daughter fly off on her dragon was something the Linwoods never thought they would experience, and doubted they would ever get used to. Blue then wandered over to the Linwoods with Speedy trotting along behind; the dragon was happy to see them again and even begged for a chin scratch.

"I think you've made a friend for life there" Blue smiled as Maynard obliged the big black dragon.

"They're amazingly easy to please" Maynard noted "Are all dragons like that?"

"Unfortunately no, but we know which ones to avoid."

"I just want you to know, we're grateful for the way you've helped Calla with her dragon" Ursula nodded.

"I probably shouldn't ask but... are you okay with me and Calla..."

"Yes" Maynard replied placing his hand on Blue's shoulder "we were just talking to Doctor Spencer about how well she and Professor Adisa had raised you so well, and your mother agrees."

"The Professor was a good man" Blue nodded.

"The best" Maynard added.

"Indeed he was" Ursula agreed as she took her turn to hug the young man.

They all waited as the boy got onto his dragon and just as they had done with Calla, the small group watched him lift off into the sky. Looking to the west, Blue could barely see the Striker as it sailed towards the horizon with Calla's riders flying towards it.

"Ready to go at last?" Haley asked as she, Boris and Ginger Nut flew up to join him.

"Yeah sorry, it's hard to say goodbye" Blue admitted.

"That's why I said farewell to my Dad after breakfast" Haley smirked.

"Yes you're very smart, now let's go; I'd like to reach the Philippines before nightfall."

'

* * *

'

With Blue and Haley now flying northeast overland, Sarah Spencer picked up her two-way radio as she and April Dias smiled at each other.

"Okay, they're gone; send in the machines."

"Machines?" Maynard and Ursula asked, confused.

"Yes" Sarah winked "come and see."

It had been a long walk down the length of the ship to see their daughter off, and now the Linwoods had to do the journey all over again in reverse as April and Sarah took them back to the bow of the vessel. By the time they arrived, about a dozen large pieces of construction and earthmoving equipment were already hard at work, moving tonnes of sand and rock down the beach on both sides of the ship.

"What on Earth is going on here?" Maynard gasped.

"April and I decided we needed more than just the Striker and the One and All if we were going to proceed much further with Earth evacuation, so we talked to Blue about him taking Sage's flagship in the future as both a floating base for his dragon team, and transport for people and equipment we need" Sarah began.

"Makes good sense" Ursula nodded.

"Yes but Blue pointed out that rather than a naval vessel, he would be better off with a freighter like one of the old tramp steamers from your fleet. We could see the advantages to Blue's idea so while he is away, we're going to prepare the best transport and dragon base we can for him" Sarah concluded.

"Wonderful idea; you can count on our help" Maynard agreed "Which ship do you intend to use?"

The smirks on faces of April and Sarah should have been a clue.

"You're standing on it" April winked.

'

* * *

'

**And so the time has come for us to say goodbye till I'm next ready to start publishing. This book has been quite an emotional roller-coaster for me and I really appreciate the calming messages I have received regularly from some of my readers. I realise I've said it before but you do deserve to be thanked again as I retreat back into the solitary world of writing once again for an indeterminate time.**

**Cheers to the story reviewers Vin, Draco38 and the Florida Guest; although we tend to indulge in chatting rather than reviewing. That's okay with me though because I have thoroughly enjoyed catching up with you all again.**

**Here's to the future and farewell for now...**

_**Marty the Martian (and Boo Cat).**_


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